


Get Over It

by Krizlynn



Category: One Piece
Genre: Humour, M/M, Romance, Sanji’s personality is chaotic. just plain chaotic, Shakespeare, Zoro has a crush uwu, a lot of swearing cause Sanji’s got a potty mouth, as usual Sanji background angst, football player Zoro, popular Zoro, probably exaggeration, there is a handful of zoro x nami but it’s primarily zosan, watch as zoro slowly loses his mind because of dumbass sanji lol, woman expert Sanji
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22974169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krizlynn/pseuds/Krizlynn
Summary: "So you're saying that if you pretend to be my unrequited love, I'll get over them?""That is exactly what I'm saying."Roronoa Zoro has a crush on Nami, the most untouchable and sought-after girl in his college.Sanji Black knows this, and being the flamboyant woman-lover he is, he's willing to help Zoro get over her. (Because he loves women, and this includes Nami which means he will never hand her over to another man.)Things don’t go quite as they both expected.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 166
Kudos: 274





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Ahahaha...
> 
> Don’t expect much from this, Zosan community. I’m really only writing this for fun and jokes, and there will be times when they’re ooc (I try not to make it often, though!) 
> 
> Either way I hope you have fun reading this multi-chaptered book :)

Zoro is popular.

The idea seems unconventional at first. Being a green-haired, menacing brute, people would expect him to be avoided out of fear or disgust. However, after his first year of college, everyone in the school either wanted to _be_ him, or in his pants, and all of the teachers wanted to be his favourite.

It's not complicated why—Zoro isn't the son of the school's founder or whatever, he's simply just... Zoro.

He's not rich nor is he poor; he's incredibly talented, hard working, and actually involved in activities. That's the reason why he's so popular. He has huge presence whenever he's in the room—people notice him and they see what he does. It's probably because he’s got an aura that resembles a skyscraper, and has the looks to show off, too. “Looks” as in strong, tan skin, piercing grey eyes, a thick build and big hands (who wouldn't love him?).

There's one problem with his image, though. He doesn't have a girlfriend (or boyfriend, but that probably wouldn't help his reputation). He's got nothing to hang off his arm or to pamper with love in the hallways.

Everyone's always questioning why he doesn't have a lover even if he can get whoever he wants, but none of them know the actual answer.

Well, until an asshole figures out everything.

Roronoa Zoro has a silly crush on a senior who will never love him back.

And Sanji Black knows exactly how to fix his problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Add/follow me on-  
> Tumblr: cinnabyunroll  
> Twitter: @KrizlynnW  
> Discord: Krizlynn#6991


	2. Who’s It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first little sparks of interest on Sanji’s side.

Zoro likes Nami.

He wonders how people haven't figured it out, what with the way he's always arguing with her during their only class together. Granted, the way they argue make it seem like they actually hate each other, but that’s not the case (at least, not for him). 

He's glad, though, because he's not sure he could handle it if people knew he liked someone way too mature for him. The girls would probably cry and ask him what was so special about the girl he liked, and the guys would probably try to get into Nami’s pants, just to one him up.

Zoro likes to think that he doesn't have many enemies, because really, he never does anything worthy of harboring enemies, but it's life. There are people who don't like him simply for his existence, and Zoro, he's _meh_.

 _Whatever_ , is his constant mindset about those people.

He kind of hasn't told anyone about this crush of his, even after two years of constantly thinking about it. Zoro’d considered getting a therapist just to tell someone about it, but he's broke, and people would spot him going there on weekends.

He'd rather avoid confusion and white lies.

It stays there then, in the back of his mind, constantly nagging him to do something about it.

-

"You seriously don't like anyone?" Perona (annoying little ass she is) questions. 

"Yeah. I don't really have the time," Zoro lies easily. He takes a bite out of his plain sandwich, watching as everyone's attention at the table just goes straight to him. It's always like this, with the people that he hangs out with. Not that he has a specific group or anything. He's kind of acquaintances with everyone and anyone at the same time. He never gets too close, but he knows the other people try. 

The only one he could really call his friend was Luffy, who’s currently off somewhere probably shoving a pizza down his throat. 

"Oh come on!" Baby Five says, smacking Zoro’s shoulder. "There has to be someone. At least half of these girls, at this cafeteria right now, would die to be your girlfriend."

"None of them interest me," Zoro gives them what he hopes is a smile that conveys "okay, next topic", but as usual, Marco has to speak up and make his life hard.

"You're gay?"

"Nope," he denies, wondering how any of this relates to him liking boys. "Seriously, can't a guy just be single?"

"Oh I see," Ace speaks up, "Always knew you were the player type."

Zoro just laughs, shaking his head.

Man, he hates people’s meddling.

-

It's the end of the day and Zoro’s waiting for the bus, which usually arrives right when he’s finished his activities. It's a rare occurrence that he’s done early, especially with things like kendo, football, and other volunteer activities, but it does happen once in a blue moon.

So he's sitting at the end of the stairway, near the side door that barely anyone frequented. He's tossing a tennis ball that he picked up from the gym, bouncing it off the floor and wall a few meters in front of him. His thoughts gradually wander to Nami, and he wonders what it is about her that he’s attracted to. When he’d first met her, he remembered actually hating her. At that time he didn't even know who she was, and all she did was irritate him. Gradually, after figuring out she was part of the student government and Luffy’s friend, his attention started drifting from the board to the girl that sat a few desks to the right of front and centre.

It was merely a coincidence that, a few months later, she became their kendo team's manager. She really caught his attention then, because any girl who even bothered with the sports that he liked were already placed further in his thoughts. She was the one to give him rides home sometimes, when their kendo practices went deep into the evening. Of course she’d make him pay up eventually, but Zoro had started to appreciate that side of her.

They've now had multiple conversations about random things, and if he was any stupider, he'd think that she likes him or something. But he's not stupider. She's always got this friendly smile on her face, and she treats Zoro just like how she treats any of the other players. He's not the only one getting rides home, and to be honest, most of the rides home were carpools.

When Zoro overheard Nami’s name from his sports teams’ conversations, the players all had stories of how they were rejected in the harshest way possible, and how Nami was literally every dude's goal. It almost makes Zoro laugh because of how predictable it was. He likes her, but there’s no way she’ll like him back. He can’t see Nami liking anyone, to be honest.

Zoro nods to himself.

"I've got to get over her." He's in the middle of waiting for the tennis ball to come back to him when he says this (without really thinking about it) but he completely misses the ball when he figures out that he kind of fucked things up.

"So there _is_ a 'her'," someone speaks up, and Zoro turns his head, surprised, to see a guy standing in what was his blind spot earlier. The guy doesn't seem like he meant to snoop or whatever, casually leaned up against the wall with his phone in hand. Looked like he was waiting too.

Zoro furrows his eyebrows as he wonders how he hadn’t seen him earlier, and the tennis ball smacks his knee before lamely bouncing off. He's got to stay calm— _I am calm_ , he tries to trick himself, clearing his throat as he stands up to grab the ball.

"I'm talking about the movie," Zoro says, "That one messed me up, I got to admit."

The guy, who Zoro now sees is Sanji Black, (what the fuck is that last name?) raises one of his eyebrows. He pushes off the wall he was leaned on, shoving his phone into his pocket and approaching Zoro. He looks like an asshole.

"You know, I don't get what the deal with you is," Sanji speaks, and Zoro furrows his eyebrows, "Oh—shit, I don't mean to be rude. It's just like. Why are you the talk of all the classes? Makes me unwillingly know every fucking fact about you."

Zoro observes Sanji for a second—blonde hair, complicated clothes, a swirly face brow. His words don't really fit his posh appearance.

Not that Sanji’s trying to be mean or something. At least, Zoro _thinks_ he's not trying to be mean.

"I don't... I don't really know," Zoro finishes, and Sanji pauses, and then shrugs.

"But hey, Mr. Bachelor's found a Bachelorette?" Sanji questions, seeming amused, and Zoro shakes his head immediately.

"No, I don't. I wasn't talking about any girl."

"You were."

"I wasn't."

Sanji stares at him challengingly, though he looked more entertained than anything else.

"No one laments about a fucking movie like that."

"You don't even know me."

Sanji hums, finally breaking eye contact to stare out the door's windows, "Kendo captain, football player. Part of the student representative group. Always gets the same drink during lunch, always uses the second-floor washroom at 12:30. I think you do yoga or some shit?"

"It's not yoga, it's spiritual training."

The guy in front of him lets out a bark of laughter, and Zoro’s eye twitches in annoyance.

He changes the subject.

"It's a little strange how much you know about me, no?"

"I should be the one saying that. The people in my classes just don't shut up about you. Can't help that I'm a professional eavesdropper, even when I don't want to be. Information just comes and stays."

"Seems like a perfect skill for grades."

"It is. Haven't gotten lower than an 85."

Zoro nearly rolls his eyes. Sanji’s also apparently smart as hell.

He's pretty sure that he himself bombed the History 101 test that he took the other day.

"Well damn, leave me alone and do your other stuff then," Zoro waves his hand and Sanji purses his lips.

"I get really fucking bored though," he admits, and Zoro shrugs.

"Not my problem."

"Okay, but you've got this girl you're pining after—"

"I am not pining after a girl,” Zoro tries to reinforce, but it seems to be doing the opposite.

Sanji laughs, and this time it doesn't seem to be at Zoro, but maybe just the situation in general. It's a million times better, Zoro admits.

"My ride's here though, so I mean. Good luck with that shitty movie you're crying about?" Sanji says, as more of a question, before he leaves out the door. Zoro stares at Sanji’s back as he leaves, just as the door to the stairwell area opens again.

Nami enters this time (oh yeah, did he mention that Nami uses this exit more often than anyone? Probably an important detail) and Zoro thanks everything because that timing was impeccable.

If Sanji saw how he interacted with Nami after already being suspicious, he’d be figured out in no time.

He just hopes Sanji doesn't get so curious, because he can deal with his own crushes, _thank you very much._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was nottt kidding when I said this was just for fun. I have a mafia au that I’m working on right now, and this is a little side thing that I write just to laugh. Don’t take it so serious pwease I know it’s a little out of character


	3. She’s It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji figured it out. Sort of?

Zoro taps his pen on the desk in boredom, cursing himself for arriving at class so early. He has an entire ten minutes to spare, and he doesn't want to leave because he knows he's going to get caught up in something else and end up late to the actual lesson.

The lecture theatre is barely filled with people, but Zoro can pick out some—Franky, one of his teammates, Buggy, a whole fucking clown, Ace, his roommate, and Jason Croc, rich guy who hosts all of the parties. The door opens and _yup_ , there's another one he can name.

Sanji Black, with his nice hair but asshole way of dressing himself (honestly Zoro doesn't know what he has against the guy's clothes but he looks like a fuckboy in them—seems like he never hit the fuckboy stage in high school and only got to it now, a couple of years into college). _Tragic_.

Sanji doesn't stare at him; probably doesn't even notice him, and sits down next to Trafalgar Law. It's a wonder how those two are friends, considering Sanji’s woman-loving and outward personality and Law’s almost deathly silence.

And Zoro quite prefers where he's sitting, because the view is great and he can see every event in the room, including Nami’s entrance.

" _Why does he like Nami?_ " some may question in detail.

Zoro simply likes the way that she is. Contrary to what it seems, they're actually quite close. He has one class with her, so his friends and everyone who know him don't see a lot of their interactions. In reality, they hang out sometimes, just for fun. They exchanged numbers way back when they first met, and the first time they hung out, Zoro figured out that her sense of humour is so menacing that it's strangely cute. He also appreciated that she’s confident and she’s brave, always fighting for what she wants (money. It’s money). 

He doesn’t realize he’s still staring, but his eyes automatically shift to the movement in his peripherals and fuck, Sanji’s staring at him.

Sanji raises his eyebrow in a question-type-of-way (Zoro holds the gaze, because no way is he chickening out to a staring contest with _Sanji_ ) before the other male turns back to the front of the class.

—

Sometimes life offers Zoro good timing, and other times, not so much.

He hates life right now, because how the hell did he end up hurting his ankle during practice? It wasn't even because he stepped in a gopher hole or something (there were no holes on the field) it was simply that he misstepped when trying to catch a throw. And fuck everything else, because Nami came to his aid with a debt he now has to pay, and he thought he’d be fine with the situation—until he was brought to the nurse's office.

Who would've known that fucking Sanji Black was a helper there? (Yeah he'll forever shit on Sanji’s last name.)

When he limps in next to Nami, he can just see the amusement on Sanji face.

"Look who's here," Sanji greets, setting down the pile of rags he was folding, "Zoro and Nami."

He looks strange in this room, because he isn't wearing any sort of uniform, just his normal clothes with a lanyard hanging from his neck. The little picture on the lanyard is of him, and he looks funny.

The main doctor doesn't appear to be here (a man named Chopper who looks ages younger than he is), so Sanji’s the one to lead them to the bed, letting Zoro sit down on the bed instead of standing on his injured leg. He looks like his day's just been made, and Zoro wonders what this guy does other than bully his poor soul.

The football player doesn't know what he wants more; for Nami to leave and have Sanji bombard him with questions, or for Nami to stay and have Sanji embarrass the hell out of him. He feels like he's in high school again, with the current dilemma in his mind.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Nami makes the decision herself.

"I have to get back to practice, you'll be okay, right Zoro?" she asks, already opening the door to leave.

"Uh, yeah," Zoro answers, not really knowing what to answer to that. _No_? His ankle's still gonna be sprained or fractured or just injured in general. Plus, Sanji’s gonna be on his back about the girl he was caught staring at and came into the room with.

Nami leaves after smiling at Sanji politely, and then it's just the two of them, a lot of the colour white, and Zoro’s injured ankle.

"So," Sanji begins, "What did you do to your leg?"

Zoro’s glad he didn't bring up Nami.

"Not really sure, but it hurts like hell."

Sanji nods and promptly kneels down, lifting Zoro’s ankle and, in turn, his calf, assessing the injury.

He prods a few places, slender fingers passing over Zoro’s skin before his thumb would press on an area. Zoro flinches when Sanji does something specific, and the guy nods.

"K, well, you sprained your ankle. Doesn't seem to have any damage to the bone, and it's just an inversion sprain." He lowers Zoro’s leg and stands, walking across the room to grab a few supplies.

Zoro’s given an ice pack wrapped in paper towel, along with what he thinks is an ankle compression sleeve.

"If you wanted to just sit back and ice your ankle for a couple of minutes... to lessen the swelling, you know."

Zoro nods and does as suggested, and in that time Sanji’s gotten the rolling chair to the edge of the bed, throwing his leg over the seat and setting himself on it with the back of the chair at his chest.

"So this 'her' of yours... Nami," Sanji says, as if he's reading the name off a list, "I see where you're coming from. She's your football manager isn't she? Stole your heart?"

Why did Sanji have to be a nosy fuck?

Zoro wasn't so sure.

"There is no one, god."

"Oh I'm sure that _God_ knows who's on your mind. But I'd say it's Nami," Sanji says, with a voice so factual Zoro actually wanted to punch him in the face. "Help a man's curiosity out, and just tell me who it is."

"There is no 'who'. Leave me alone, fuckboy."

”I prefer the term lady expert,” Sanji snorts, moving the chair back and forth with his feet (which Zoro assumes are currently planted on the floor). He later folds his arms on the top of the backrest, letting his head lay on top.

"Is there a reason why you don't want anyone to know?"

"Is there a reason why you want to know?" Zoro quickly retorts, and the guy in front of him just purses his lips.

"I've got theories, and as I said, curiosities."

Zoro narrows his eyes.

"Come on! Who am I going to tell? My two friends? I'm not as popular as you," he states, before adding a sleazy: " _Sir_."

"Don't ever do that again," Zoro orders.

"Yessir."

"God fuck."

Sanji cackles, sitting straight again and even leaning back, hands holding him steady on the chair. "It is Nami though, right?"

Zoro nearly fucking sighs, but he holds it in and decides, _why the hell not_. Sanji had a point, what's the worst that could happen if he told him? People most likely wouldn't believe him, because Zoro had never associated himself with Sanji before, so why would he know who he currently liked?

"Yeah."

"That wasn't so hard was it?"

"Shut it, mini-doctor."

Sanji looks beyond amused, almost like he's holding back a smile bigger than his current close-lipped one. "Can I tell you my theory?"

"No."

"I have an idea.”

”I literally said no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm... why is Sanji a training doctor? Mysteries are real. Anyway please comment if yoi have any sentiment towards this story whatsoever :) I’d really appreciate it


	4. Help With It

The room is silent for a few minutes.

Sanji seems to be thinking about what to say, looking aimlessly at the paintings hung up on the wall. Zoro does the same, except with the TV that was playing nothing, across the room.

Talk about awkward.

The ice on his ankle feels good, but it's annoying having to sit half cross-legged to reach his ankle, if that even made sense. At least it smelled pleasant in the room. Like some good old Febreeze "spring" scent or whatever.

Zoro glances over at Sanji when he's sick of staring at the TV, watching as Sanji’s eyes move over details on the little decors of the room.

Zoro’s not sure if Sanji is feeling awkward—is it possible for Sanji to feel awkward? The guy's all sorts of surprises.

Finally, after Zoro’s argued with himself about whether or not he should start a conversation, Sanji speaks up.

"So, hear me out."

Sanji’s staring at him now, and Zoro realizes that he was caught staring, but he really doesn't care. Instead, he just flicks his head to get rid of the piece of green hair invading his sight.

"Have you ever read Shakespeare's _As You Like It_?" Sanji questions, and Zoro racks his brain to think about whether or not he's read it in high school.

 _God, that was such a long time ago_ , Zoro thinks, before deciding that even if he did read it, he wouldn't remember anything about it.

"No."

"Okay well, we have a Rosalind and an Orlando. Or in this case, Nami and you," Sanji begins, and Zoro nods, "They like each other. Skipping over some major details, Rosalind dresses up as a man, and she knows that Orlando likes her. So, as her man-version 'Ganymede', she tells Orlando to 'woo her'—or him, in this case."

"Alright..." Zoro says, unsure of why this would matter at all.

"So, what if I was your so-called 'Ganymede' and you practiced wooing me, to get ready for Nami?" Sanji offers.

"What the fuck? No," Zoro denies quickly, and Sanji’s smile falls, a frown appearing on his lips.

"Why not?"

“'Why not'? That's the most unnecessary thing ever. I know she'll only ever like me platonically either way, so at this point I should be trying to get over her, not get my hopes up," Zoro states, letting out a 'tsk' as his leg starts to fall asleep. He shifts, trying to get more comfortable while Sanji thinks about his words. Eventually, Zoro gives up and just lets his leg sleep even with all the pines and needles.

"Okay, so what if we changed it up a little and instead of practicing to get with Nami, I help you get over her?"

"So you're saying that if you pretend to be my unrequited love, I'll get over her?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying."

Zoro sighs, "No. Why are you so determined to get yourself involved?"

"I was dared to," Sanji shrugs, and Zoro’s a little disbelieving because of how quickly he admitted to making a dare about Zoro. "At first I was just trying to be annoying, but today, Law, the guy you might've seen around me, dared me to become your friend. He’s a little sadistic.”

"My friend?" Zoro asks, and Sanji nods. "So you're doing this to become my friend."

"Basically," Sanji states, and then he raises an eyebrow. "So how about it?"

"Still no," Zoro snorts, and Sanji’s got that disappointed look on his face again, except maybe 10 times the intensity. "Stop looking like you're tryna take a shit."

“Jesus," Sanji laughs, "I didn't know I looked like that when I made my pleading face... Whatever," he eventually says, standing up from his seat. "Can you like, at least pretend to talk to me sometimes, though? A good $30 is on the line here."

"And why would I care if you get an extra $30 or not?"

"Okay, in my defence, I originally wanted to make this situation a give-and-take sort of thing. You get to... I don't know, get over your crush or get with your crush, while I get $30."

"I would evidently be getting the short end of the stick. You aren't even Nami."

Sanji makes a frustrated noise and— _hey_ , Zoro realizes, _it's actually a little amusing making Sanji annoyed._

"That's the whole point—you know what, nevermind. I just remembered that I actually have an appointment in like, 5 minutes. I gotta bounce." He takes off his lanyard and shoves it into his pocket, grabbing what seemed to be his jacket as he opens the door.

"What kind of appointment?" Zoro asks, and at this point he's just trying to be more of a nuisance.

Sanji doesn't crack under his antics. Instead, he looks like a mischevious cat, grinning over his shoulder as he answers, "Date. With my favourite girl."

Zoro raises an eyebrow.

"Take care of that ankle and make sure to rest!"

And then Sanji’s out the door, leaving Zoro with a lot of questions.

_What an enigma, that Sanji._


	5. He’ll Do It

People make mistakes. Zoro understands that people make mistakes. It's part of human nature, after all. No one is perfect, which leads them to make mistakes. But sometimes he wonders if it's merely mistakes that make someone imperfect. It's happened before; where a mistake turned out perfect, so why were mistakes seen as something only for the imperfect? Zoro simply didn't understand—

He's going off track. Holy shit he went off on a weird tangent.

People make mistakes. But by God, why did Zoro make fifty-two mistakes?

He almost can't believe the 3% he has on his test paper.

"I take it you're about to either cry or shit your pants," Ace says, after taking a peep at Zoro’s paper.

Zoro got 2 points, out of 54.

Fuck history.

—

His ankle's still being a bitch, but Zoro honestly can't care about that anymore. He has to work off the disappointment of his grades, lifting weights and doing his normal sets—which included lunges and calf raises and a lot of other things involving his ankle. His music's blasting in his earbuds and he doesn't really notice anything else, standing in front of his college's gym mirror as he focuses on the sweat dripping down his forehead.

He's doing bicep curls, mindlessly abusing his muscles, when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

It takes a second for him to crawl out of his empty mind, but when he does, he notices that it's Sanji.

He tugs the earbuds out of his ears, cringing when his sweat drips from the mere action. Sanji doesn't look bothered whatsoever, smiling up at him like Zoro isn't trying to workout until he drops from exhaustion.

“What are you doing here?" Sanji asks, and Zoro presses his lips together for a second, wondering if he should entertain Sanji’s whole "friendship" thing. He can see Law staring at them from across the room, working on one of the machines.

He goes along with it. He's moody but at least he's decent enough to talk to someone. "Working out."

"Oh?" Sanji questions, and then Zoro re-evaluates whether or not Sanji wants to be friends, because he proceeds to kick Zoro’s injured ankle, making him swear out loud, immediately hopping on one foot to aid the pain in the other. He has to awkwardly set the dumbbells down.

“What the _hell_ ," Zoro curses, grasping at the currently throbbing limb.

"Didn't I tell you to rest?" Sanji asks, and Zoro wonders if it's question after question after question with this guy. "That shit's swollen."

“Thanks for pointing out the fucking obvious, _friend_." He grits his teeth, willing the pain to subside so he can beat Sanji to a pulp. "Hurts more than getting hit in the nuts," Zoro speculates, probably as an exaggeration.

"No way," Sanji guffaws, obviously trying to hold his laughter but failing. "Sorry, just needed to do my duty as the doctor's assistant. Can't let injured people continue to injure themselves."

“And kicking my ankle would've helped how?"

“You never know? Maybe it would magically heal you?"

"No."

"Well, I disagree. Do you really think that I should be your Ganymede?"

"Yes," the green-haired man answers automatically.

Zoro blinks. Sanji laughs without a restraint.

"Gotcha, bitch."

Zoro really wants to beat him up. _God, please_ , let Zoro beat Sanji up once.

"I think I've bothered you enough today—"

"Actually, you've bothered me enough for the rest of my goddamn life—"

Sanji pats Zoro’s back, giving him a sympathetic smile. "I'll see you later, my Orlando."

"Oh fuck me," Zoro groans, wanting to shoot himself.

Sanji whistles provocatively as he walks away. And yet, he finishes his exit with: "I'm into girls, my boy. Girls."

—

Zoro’s sitting on the side for football practice, watching as his teammates practiced their asses off. He kind of wishes he was doing the same, but Nami, like the over-protective manager she is, forced Zoro to watch.

It's not that bad though, because he got his daily exercise earlier in the gym, and his ankle didn't stop him from tossing a football in the air.

Nami looks good with her oversized sweater (how she's surviving through the heat, Zoro does not know), her hair tied in a ponytail that flicks whenever she turns her head to look for someone. In her hands is a clipboard, most likely noting down everyone's progress while the coach yells at his teammates to continue running. He can't really see what she's doing, and nor can he talk to her; being on the other damn side of the field.

The coach calls everyone on the field to gather in for some water, prompting a hoard of boys to swarm where Nami stood, the witch herself handing out cooled water bottles as Zoro watches in envy.

He wonders if any of those boys have dated Nami. He knows that half of them haven't—team showers revealed a lot, like most of their wishes to get with Nami—but what about the other half? And has she had other partners? How far did she go with them? Did she—

Okay, Zoro stops himself, weird thoughts.

He uncaps his own water bottle, taking a drink from the chilly water and lifting his eyes to the sky. The autumn sky looks nice, he notices, yet he wonders why it's so hot even for a late September day. He isn't even drinking his water anymore, letting the mouth of the bottle rest on his lips as he thinks about the rest of the year.

Just as he's focused on a cloud that looks strangely like Mario, he feels a tap (or a smack) on his left shoulder, startling the shit out of him.

And yeah, now there's water all over his front.

"Jesus Christ!" Zoro exclaims, pulling the bottle away from him as he stares in shock at his clothes. He glances over at the idiot, and of course, it's Sanji. "Do you bring destruction everywhere with you? Stay the fuck away from me!"

"Is that any way to talk to your friend?" Sanji asks, and Zoro groans, setting the bottle down and standing from his spot on the bench.

He pulls on the front of his shirt repeatedly, attempting to let the wind and sun dry it off, but nature has never really been his friend. His pants are also just a goner.

He's juggling between two options right now. Punching Sanji in the face, or starting a conversation.

"So," Zoro begins, "What are you doing here?" It's really only out of politeness that Zoro decides to talk, and Sanji probably lacks everything related to polite, stepping onto Zoro’s side of the bench to sit down.

"I don't know, I was bored.”

"Is that your excuse to everything?"

"Hey, your girl's looking at you."

Zoro’s gaze immediately flits upwards, eyes fixing on the person he'd been staring at for the past half an hour. "She's not."

But in the next second, Nami looks up, seemingly raising her eyebrows. Zoro probably needs glasses. Can't really tell which expression she's giving him.

Well, the water stain on his grey shirt is obvious, so she's probably just asking him if everything's okay. He gives her a thumbs up, and Sanji snorts from his spot on the bench.

Zoro looks down at the other male, giving him an expression that hopefully reads: _my business, fuck off._

"My proposition," Sanji starts.

"No."

"Well, can you at least tell Law you're my friend?"

"Also no."

Sanji sulks for a few seconds, before he tries again. "You obviously like her a lot. You could just... you know, practice wooing me, or try to get over her using me."

For some reason, this time, Zoro’s lips just press together in thought.

He does like her a lot. It's also probably not healthy to harbour a crush for such a long time... An impossible one, especially.

"There are better ways to become my friend. Why this?" Zoro questions, glancing back over at Nami. She's not staring now, too focused on helping the other dudes out.

"It seems fun," Sanji answers without a care in the world, and Zoro tries to put himself in the shorter's shoes. How could any of this be fun? He had to pretend to be Zoro’s love interest. If anything, it's messed up.

But, nonetheless, Zoro’s a little willing to do it. "Pros and cons," Zoro offers, and Sanji visibly brightens, sitting up straighter when Zoro settles down next to him.

"Well, if you're looking to get over her, here are the pros. I'm such a terrible partner that you'd easily get over Nami if you imagine I'm her. Pro number two, I'm a really nice guy, and I won't tell anyone that we're doing this. Pro number three... uh, shit. Oh, I'm an attractive partner," he pauses, obviously trying to pull another reason out of that thing he calls a brain, and if Zoro could, he'd give Sanji the most disappointed look in his life. "Cons: none."

"Sounds great," Zoro deadpans. He really doesn't mean that.

At the same time, he has nothing to lose.

He's been in college so long now that everything's kind of blurred out. Other than the occasional despair he feels when receiving bad tests, in Sanji’s words: it's getting boring. He thinks that if he had a girlfriend, on the other hand, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

A significant other always made things more meaningful, no?

If Nami’s always going to be on his mind, he should probably do something about that.

"Pros and cons for if I want to woo Nami?"

Sanji looks interested in the topic, but then he leans his torso back, arms supporting his body behind him as he thinks seriously about it. "I could be a great girlfriend. A little annoying, though. I guarantee that you'll be able to steal Nami’s heart after dealing with me."

"Those are some wild claims you're making," Zoro points out, looking over at the man. Sanji nods, grinning. Zoro realizes that the more he gets to know Sanji, the more the guy smiles. "But. It's... Not bad."

"Actually?" Sanji asks, tilting and turning his head to look at Zoro. There's a piece of his blonde hair, right in the middle of his face, and Zoro’s tempted to move it out of the way. He doesn't, of course, because it's not like the urge was that strong either way, and Sanji would probably take it the wrong way.

"I might take you up on the offer."

"Actually?" and then he adds, in a whispered voice, "Holy shit."

"Damn, don't make me regret this."

Sanji laughs, a different twinge of emotion behind the sound. Seems like actual joy.

"Yeah, okay," Zoro speaks, standing. He's only now realized that practice is coming to a close, pulling and letting go of the front of his shirt one more time before he starts to grab his stuff. "Let's do your bullshit plan."

"Sorry about the shirt, by the way," Sanji mentions, almost sheepish. "I'll totally pay you back. With my body."

"Stop that."

"What do you mean?" Sanji raises the pitch of his voice, and when Zoro turns to glare at him, the bastard's fluttering his eyelashes, "Don't you want my pretty, _pretty_ body?"

"I hate you."

"Thanks."


	6. I Can’t Believe It

His history professor's an asshole, Zoro decides.

The man won't accept any re-tests, and many of the other failing students cried at this info. Zoro, on the other hand, sits in the cafeteria an hour later with a blank look on his face.

He wonders what his average looks like now, after that Worth-20%-Death-Test.

He sits in silence for a few more minutes, the air around him gloomy as he waits for the other part of his new romance game. Yesterday, they planned to meet where Zoro was currently waiting, five minutes ago. The tardiness doesn't exactly bother Zoro because he barely even notices it, but being late and being _fucking late_ isn't the same thing.

After another ten minutes, Sanji is the latter.

He finally arrives when Zoro’s at his wit's end, looking a little different. His hair looks fluffier, and he's wearing a dark blue hoodie that fits him strangely well. Doesn't look like his typical asshole outfit.

"Sorry about that," Sanji blinks his eyes a couple of times, tone of voice lighter, and very, very weirdly sweet. "I was a little late. Did I make you wait long?" When his hand brushes Zoro’s in a "flirty" manner, all hope of this going well falls down the drain.

Zoro’s head drops onto the table, forehead first. "I hate this," he mumbles.

—

"That isn't how you ask for a girl's number, fuckhead— _ah I mean_ ," Sweet voice, "Um could you... say that again?"

Zoro wants to bury himself in the ground. Sleep and never wake up.

His meeting with Sanji—er, fucking Ganymede, now Animede (the name changed because Sanji hated how it sounded and liked that it now started with anime) was disastrous. He didn't know that it would start straight off the bat with Sanji acting like a terrible version of Nami, and proceed to tell Zoro that he'd need to get his number.

It continued with a lot of admittedly cringe-y happenings where Sanji looked like he was trying to summon a blush, and talk about things that Zoro had no idea about.

The next time they meet, Zoro decides, is when they're going to set some damn ground rules for this game. He already knows rule number one: never, ever try to sound like Nami.

Fucking scarring, man.

It's at that moment that his phone buzzes, and he's half expecting to get a text from the new number that he added (and had to very awkwardly get from Sanji) but instead, it's from a number that he recognizes. One that makes him sit up from his lazed position on his bed.

**Nami** \- 7:13 PM

_Hey, you wanna hang out?_

Zoro feels a little better.

**Zoro** \- 7:15 PM

_Sure, where do we meet?_

She texts him the details, and in a few minutes the two of them are playing basketball at an outdoor court.

"I needed to work away this stress," Nami says, after Zoro asked her why she decided to play basketball. She's not the best, and she shoots with both hands—but hey, those are all things that Zoro could help her with.

She misses the goal regularly, but when she completely airballs it, they both burst out in laughter. Zoro wipes the sweat off of his forehead, fanning himself. He's pretty sure that his hair is matted to his forehead and he looks like a mess, but he can't really be bothered by it when Nami looks as good as usual.

For some reason, Sanji pops up in his mind, and he nearly winces. Why did he even agree to do whatever game the dude made up? He might actually... have a chance with Nami.

Or those are just dumb wishes.

He shakes off the thoughts and starts another game with Nami, smiling when he realizes that out of all of her guy friends, she asked him to hang out.

His chance may be greater than other people's.

They finish up after Zoro wins 5 - 0, and they talk for a bit before going back to their dorms. He feels way too good about himself, taking a shower and settling into his bed. Nothing can ruin his bad mood now, and he's anticipating waking up to a beautiful sunny morning.

But, when he's all ready to sleep, he receives a text that is from the person he was expecting, two hours ago. He takes his words back, knowing that his mood's going to be ruined.

He changes Sanji’s contact number to: "asshole" and reads the text.

**asshole** \- 10:23 PM

_You're gonna have to ask me out_

_on a date if you want things to_

_move forward_

**Zoro** \- 10:23 PM

_hey you wanna go one a date?_

**asshole** \- 10:23 PM

... _What is this? No caps and a typo?_

_Get your shit together, I'll never_

_fall in love with you at this rate_

**Zoro** \- 10:24 PM

_Hey, would you like to meet_

_up at that famous burger place_

_tomorrow?_

**asshole** \- 10:24 PM

_(Terrible, terrible choice_

_for a first date. Burgers are messy and_

_they make your breath stink)_

_Sure, what time?_

**Zoro** \- 10:24 PM

_How's 1 PM for you?_

_This is fucking ridiculous_ , Zoro rolls his eyes. At this point, he's just entertaining the bastard.

**asshole** \- 10:25 PM

That's perfect. I'll see you there.

—

Zoro’s late. Oh, he's _so_ late.

He overslept, and he was honestly lucky that he didn't oversleep any more than he did.

Twenty minutes isn't that late, is it?

He slows his steps when he's almost there, questioning why he even cares if he's late. Sanji was fifteen minutes late to their first meeting, and even if he knows it was on purpose, he's just returning the favour.

Plus, it's fucking Sanji, waiting for him. Not Nami. He really doesn't have to care about what the guy thinks.

Or, maybe he does.

"I can't believe it," Sanji clucks his tongue when Zoro sits down at the table across from him. "Leaving your beloved to wait for twenty minutes? How dare you."

"Shouldn't you be, I don't know, dressed up in girly clothes?" Zoro asks, just to move the topic away from how he was late. "You are trying to be Nami right now."

"Now you're criticizing my clothes!" Sanji exclaims in disbelief.

"Well, I mean, you don't look bad..."

And it's the truth. Sanji’s in a simple white button-up, sleeves folded halfway up his forearms. Zoro thinks he's wearing some kind of dark jeans, but he can't really examine them from his current spot. His hair, though, seems actually styled today. Not just a mop of fluff on his head like usual, but actually slicked up into a hairstyle. He somehow fits the vibe of the burger joint they chose.

"Of course I don't look bad. Now, let's get this show on the road."

He moves his menu so that it's standing, partially covering his face and only leaving his eyes and cheeks on show. Zoro does the same, except he doesn't bring it up as high, watching Sanji closely. A couple of minutes pass where Sanji’s just looking at the menu, and Zoro has started fidgeting a little, unsure of anything and everything.

What the hell does this silence mean?

Another minute passes. 

Zoro’s a little scared. Sanji never goes more than a couple of minutes in silence.

"To be..." Sanji finally starts, and then he lifts the menu up until only his eyes are seen. He looks at Zoro for a brief second before looking away. "Really, fucking honest..."

Zoro is so confused.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Sanji finishes, basically burning holes into his menu.

Huh.

Zoro doesn't know either.

"It's one thing getting you to ask for my number, and a whole other thing to text you, but going on a date? 'The fuck am I supposed be doing right now?" Sanji questions, lowering the menu seconds later. Zoro wonders if Sanji was embarrassed. Probably not.

Zoro does feel like laughing though. It's Sanji who's supposed to be the one challenging him, and yet here he is.

"Why the hell did you ever suggest we do this?"

"'Kay, no, wait, let's start this over," Sanji says, and then he clears his throat. Zoro doesn't know what he's gonna do or say, which means he doesn't know if he should be scared or mortified. He figures out the answer in the next second, when Sanji starts to speak in that voice. " _Hey, how was your day, Zoro_ —"

"Shut up, right now."

Sanji’s mouth is still open but no other sound escapes, and then his tongue comes out to rest under his teeth; a way to stop himself from smiling.

Zoro realizes he has to stop his own smile.

Soon, the blond’s hand comes up to rub his face and Zoro just looks back at his menu, trying to figure out what to get. 

"This is a disaster," Sanji admits. Zoro can hear Sanji’s shoes tapping on the ground and he glances up to see that Sanji’s taken on a whole different stance, looking more like a kid than anything else. Hands tucked under his legs and menu flat on the table, leaned forward to scan the items.

"Good observation," Zoro states, and he sees the waiter of the burger joint approach them, a kind smile on her face.

"Have you had a chance to look at the menu? What can I get for you today?" she asks politely. 

Sanji purses his lips, and then he simply says: "Just a caesar salad, thank you." 

She writes it down and Zoro looks at Sanji a little weirdly, because who goes to a burger place to get a salad?

He himself gets a Philly cheese steak burger, with fries and everything. 

When she leaves with the menus in hand, Sanji speaks up again.

" _Well_ —"

"Drop the voice," Zoro nearly pleads, and Sanji gives him a toothy grin. 

"Well, I'd currently give you a rank of 1.5 out of 5 stars, for boyfriend material. You haven't done much, to be honest." 

"I didn't even know that you were already testing me! You've been doing jack shit by the way. You're nothing like Nami."

"So you're saying I should try to act like Nami?" Sanji questions, and Zoro’s mouth twists. 

"No..."

"Then use your imagination."

"God, this is the worst date I've ever been on," Zoro states, and it's nothing but the truth. He's only ever been on two other dates, and they were just average. Nothing really wrong with them. 

This date?

So many things are wrong.

"Gotta be honest with you, cause I say I'm better at making people get over their crushes." Sanji nods, and then he even raises his eyebrows, insinuating that Zoro should do exactly that.

"But I want Nami to be my girlfriend." 

"Point taken, my friend."

They spend the next few minutes asking each other questions, and it's kinda like they're on a legit date. Just a really bad one.

Their food arrives after ten minutes, and Zoro’s plate looks huge compared to Sanji’s bowl of salad. 

"Well?" Sanji asks, when Zoro just starts eating.

"What?" Zoro retorts, mouth full of food.

"Goddammit, you're supposed to offer me your food! Are you an idiot or what?" 

Zoro looks at Sanji strangely, finishing the food in his mouth and even wiping his lips before he talks. He's just trying to find time to understand what Sanji means. 

"Why."

Sanji looks like he's got a migraine, shaking his head when Zoro starts to feel himself having a little bit of fun. Being an idiot concerning romance isn't his favourite thing, but when it gets Sanji this bothered, it kinda is. 

"This has never happened to you before?" Sanji questions, and Zoro just shrugs. "Ladies these days just order the tiniest bit of food, say they're not hungry, and then eat all of your food when you offer them some. I don’t really mind though, since it’s cute but you know.”

“That’s just a stereotype.”

"It happens a lot Zoro. It happens a lot."

Zoro frowns. "You know, you are the _worst_ girlfriend."

"Oh fuck off, and give me your food."


	7. Switch It

Zoro’s "date" with Sanji keeps replaying in his mind, somewhat haunting but kind of amusing at the same time. He remembers how Sanji had so happily accepted the countless fries he offered, and even took a bite of his burger. In return, he had given Zoro, like, a leaf of lettuce, the blondie laughing under his breath when Zoro had shot him a dirty look.

In all, it's good fun being with Sanji. The guy has a colourful vocabulary, not unlike his own. He's also only ever annoying in a manner that's actually tolerable.

Zoro shakes his head, noticing that he's totally procrastinating his work. He looks down at the countless sheets of paper, lined out in front of him. They've been untouched for the past hour and a half, and he can't even bring himself to read the first word of the first page.

Plus, his roommate Ace is sleeping soundlessly in the bed on the other side of the room, and Zoro wishes to do the same. But he can't, because insomnia's real and studies are also real.

Although, he admits, he'd really like some street food right now.

Making up his mind, Zoro stands up, grabbing a light jacket as he heads out. He's dressed fairly well for the cool weather, with his jeans and long-sleeved shirt, jacket to protect him from the nighttime chill.

He's on the streets in minutes, heading out of the dorm area to walk a few more blocks, getting downtown in no time. It's still lively even at 12:30 at night, and he ponders on what to eat. He's craving every sort of flavour right now, but strangely enough maybe he wants sweet more than savoury. It must be a weird night if Zoro out of all people was craving something sweet.

Zoro finds himself in front of a Korean Pancake stand, waiting behind the one other person ordering. He grabs his wallet from his pocket and fishes out a bit of change, ordering three of them.

They warm his hands when he receives them, and he heads further down the street, out to a park. He's about to sit down on a lone wooden bench when he spots a familiar figure, meters away on a different bench. Zoro wonders if his eyes are tricking him, but as he walks closer, he realizes that it's Nami.

"Hey," he greets her, and she looks up from her little styrofoam bowl of noodles.

"Oh, Zoro! Hey," she answers, wiping the little bit of sauce on her lips.

"Can I sit?"

She nods, and Zoro takes his place next to her, keeping a safe distance as he bites his pancake.

"What are you doing out here?" she asks, and Zoro shrugs.

"I was craving some food. You?" he repeats the question, and Nami pauses for a second, looking down at her food.

"Funny story, actually."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm just..." She looks really uncertain, and Zoro wonders what's bothering her so much that she can't even say it. "You're one of my closest guy friends, okay?"

Ouch.

"Uh, yup," Zoro answers, looking away and eating more of his pancake. He wonders if Nami totally noticed his crush, and was currently brushing him off.

"So I can tell you this secret."

Okay. Thankfully, it seemed like Nami hasn't realized his growing infatuation for her.

"Go ahead, there's no reason for me to share it," Zoro prompts, and Nami nods. Now, when Zoro looks at her, she seems a little sorrowful.

"I... I like this person, but we can't date," she admits, her grip on the chopsticks tightening. "It makes me really frustrated."

Zoro’s jaw drops a little, because he didn't expect this sort of secret to be told to him. _Isn't... Don't girls only share this type of info with girls?_

 _It's 2020, idiot,_ Zoro reminds himself. This is normal.

It's then that he discerns that he's got zero chance with Nami. Probably negative ten chance actually. He feels as if he's seen as her brother.

Why did he even think that he'd have a chance to “woo” her? (Fuck that word honestly, but blame Sanji for making him use it so much.)

The image of Sanji's face flashes in his mind and he mentally groans, realizing that he spent an entire afternoon trying to make him his "girlfriend" for nothing.

Regardless, he'll think about this later. For now, he's just gonna focus on Nami’s problem.

"I can only imagine... Is there a reason you can't date this person?"

It's with a deep sigh that Nami explains vaguely why they can't date, something about parents not letting them be together, the person being a mere college freshman, and them probably not even liking her. Zoro responds with something cheesy (he doesn't want to remember exactly what he said), about how anyone would be lucky to be with Nami.

They talk about it a little more, the taller out of the two of them trying to cheer up the other, probably failing miserably while he's at it.

The night ends with her empty noodle bowl and Zoro giving her one of his sweet pancakes, the two of them heading their separate ways after Nami gives him a hug.

He hates how much he likes the feel of hugging Nami, and he trudges back to his dorm room with his hands shoved in his pocket, gaze kept on the ground. It's gloomier outside than when he left, the moon now covered by clouds and darkening the entire place by a few shades.

Zoro doesn't really know what to do, because Nami always just seemed too busy for relationships, which is why he crushed on her without restraint. But now, knowing that she likes someone? It makes things complicated, mostly when he's aware of what he is to Nami.

A very good friend.

"Sneaking out at night?"

Zoro looks up, towards the corner of the building. It takes a second for him to figure out who it is, though he should've made the connection with merely the voice.

"Sanji," Zoro greets.

The light-haired man is leaned against the wall meters away from him, looking underdressed even with the little amount of wind. White t-shirt, fitting jeans. His hands are shoved in his pockets per usual, and Zoro imagines that this is how people take a smoke break. But Sanji doesn't seem to smoke (at least he hasn’t seen it yet) so he's just standing there, 1 AM, for... no reason.

What I tell you? He's a mystery, Zoro reminds himself.

He walks past Sanji a couple of steps, before stopping and turning around.

"Have we always bumped into each other this often?" the more serious of the two questions, and through the dark he can see the quirk of Sanji's lips. He thinks he can see a glimpse of something shining on his cheeks, reflecting off of the little amount of light.

"Yes and no. Yes, because we have very similar classes and living areas, no because before I just didn't bother saying anything to you. You probably didn't notice anything."

"I see."

Zoro turns and he's about to leave again, but something stops him. It's curiosity, nagging at his mind, so he takes a step back, and then another, until he's standing in front of Sanji but not facing him. The blond’s got his side view.

"Are you crying?" Zoro asks almost cautiously, turning just a little and locking gazes with him.

"Yes and no."

Zoro lets out a little huff of laughter at the answer.

"Why?"

Sanji hums a little, probably wondering if he should reveal it to Zoro or not. The latter's about to argue that Sanji has no right to keep secrets after what he's done, but he eventually speaks up.

"You know my special date the other day?" Zoro nods. "We've got a complicated relationship. On and off sort of thing... you know?"

Sanji sighs aggressively a few seconds after, head dropping as he kicks the ground in what would seem like frustration. To Zoro it just looks like he's trying not to cry.

"It probably just officially ended," Sanji states, head still lowered, and Zoro actually feels a small amount of sympathy growing in his heart. "I kind of anticipated it, from weeks ago. Also one of the reasons why I'm starting this dumbass game with you. Takes my mind off things."

"How do you know it's not just another 'off' period?" Zoro asks, shuffling his feet a little, feeling awkward.

"After taking constant breaks with someone for three years, you know when something's different from before. A change in the words used. A change in their expression. I don't know, but I just know."

"Do you?"

"You're testing my knowledge now, Roronoa Zoro?" Sanji asks, looking up and at Zoro’s face. It's then that the last bit of cloud passes the moon, and its light shines down on this side of the planet fairly well. Sanji looks bad.

"You look bad." (Zoro’s proud of his #nofilter on his images and on his mouth.)

"Gee, thanks. Just what I needed to fucking hear." Though his words are harsh, Zoro can recognize the joking tint in them, and see the little uplift of his lips. Sanji's sad, but he's evidently not sad enough to stop joking around. It reassures Zoro a little, because it's weird seeing someone like that crazy bastard, sad about a breakup.

Zoro smiles at him, admittedly more softly than he meant to. In response to that, he sees Sanji's lips part when the shorter's own little grin stops in surprise. Zoro doesn't notice what's weird until he realizes that he's actually fucking smiling at the guy.

"Anyway," Zoro quickly speaks up, looking away from Sanji. The other doesn't move an inch from his spot. "It's late as hell, so I should be heading back. Don't get kidnapped, and don't worry too much about your romance problems. If it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be."

He's terrible at comforting people.

He has to give himself some credit though. Two people in one night? One is already enough.

It's probably the third time that Zoro's tried to leave, but the little gust of wind stops him from fully doing so. Instead, it's after a second of hesitance that he pulls off his jacket and walks over to Sanji, placing it on his head and watching in a small amount of amusement as Sanji's head bobs in surprise.

Sanji pulls it off to hold it in his hand, and then he stares at Zoro, hair now messy. He still looks pretty bad with his puffy eyes, but he does kinda look... _don’t think about it, Zoro. Don’t think about it. Don’t think—_

Cute.

(Well shit.) 

Awe and the little ounce of happiness look good on his face.

"Damn," a smile is growing on Sanji's face, looking more and more pleased, "Plus one star for that move. You're already on your way to wooing the fuck out of Nami."

"Actually, about that, I want to get over her now... Don't ask."

Sanji raises an eyebrow, and Zoro watches as he stands straight to drape the coat over his shoulders. It looks a lot bigger on him, and it's a little funny. "So it's serious now, huh? You actually have to get over her."

"Basically."

After they stare at each other for a few unnecessary seconds, Zoro finally leaves this time, only after hearing Sanji say in that cheesy voice of his: " _Bye, my dearest boyfriend."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to update semi regularly for all of us quarantined fam :))) I hope you’re enjoying this so far and if you’ve reached the end check out my other books!!! Leave some comments cause ily all


	8. Massage It

Zoro doesn't hear much from Sanji after their encounter during the night, and the guy's still got his jacket. It's realistically only been a day, but with the way he's been bumping into Sanji back and forth, it's a little weird.

So he doesn't really expect to see Sanji when he's speed walking on the field (yeah his ankle's still kinda messed, but not messed enough to stop him entirely) during their team conditioning.

He's the team's quarterback so he usually doesn't have to run that much, but he's skipped out on the last couple of practices so he feels as if he has to make up for it somehow. He's pretty focused on not dying, so when he sees Sanji talking to Nami on the side, he _almost_ does die. Almost.

It's really worrying, because Sanji seems to have the biggest mouth in the world, and next to Nami, that means so many bad things for Zoro.

The rest of his practice time on the field is filled with thoughts about how Sanji's going to expose him, and the feeling never leaves until it's just him and Zoro, Nami and the boys having left to wash up.

"We were just talking about school, if you were wondering," Sanji says, and it's then that Zoro realizes Sanji's got his jacket draped over his arm.

"That's relieving," Zoro says, taking a drink of water to cool himself down. He's still sweating waterfalls. Like before, Sanji doesn't seem to care.

"Here's your jacket. I'm actually kind of busy though, so I can't stay for long."

Zoro grabs the jacket and grumbles: "Thank goodness."

Sanji just laughs.

"You should come to my dorm room tomorrow, at around 3 PM. Same building as yours, room 104." Sanji suddenly stops, and it's like he's discovered a revelation. "Actually, you don't have a fucking choice. Come to my dorm room tomorrow."

"Uh, shit. O-kay, as if I didn't have plans," Zoro answers sarcastically, and Sanji just scoffs.

"You? Plans? That's funny. You don't have football tomorrow and neither are there any student council plans. I pay attention to the announcement board," Sanji says, grin on his face as he taps his temple with a finger.

"Alright, alright. Just get out of my face," Zoro waves his arm, and Sanji replies with a "gladly" before he's off.

Zoro doesn't watch him leave, tipping his head back to drink more water. When he thinks he's mentally ready to peel off his sweaty clothes for a shower (it's his least favourite part of every day; the peeling off the clothes part), he enters the building again.

Cavendish, who had been waiting for Zoro at the gym doors—apparently occupied by his phone—nudges Zoro on the arm when he sees him. Cavendish is someone that Zoro finds overly flamboyant. In a way he reminds him of Sanji, though he’s known Cavendish four times as long and figures that he might actually be a little more overbearing than Sanji.

"Just saw, but you've been hanging with Sanji?" the man questions, following leisurely after Zoro who heads straight to the locker room.

"Hm? Yeah," Zoro confirms, distracted.

"He's an asshole though."

"You've got that one right," Zoro replies, grin on his face.

"I'm serious, though."

The two of them enter the locker room where Zoro decides to just get things over with, taking off his gear with a feeling of disgust. Ace hoots when Zoro's abs and chest are revealed and the other boys do the same—it's typical behaviour, Zoro swears none of them are messing around—and when Cavendish does the same, he receives no reaction.

"Come on guys, seriously?" Cavendish questions and the guys just laugh. "Okay, wait, what do you guys think of Sanji Black?"

"Sanji? He's kind of a snob," one of them say.

"Yeah. He's popular with the girls but he's an asshole to the guys. Makes him seem like a dick."

"See?" Cavendish says, turning to look at Zoro. Zoro's still in the middle of taking off his pants, barely paying attention.

He really, honestly, _one-hundred percent,_ could not care less about their opinions of Sanji. He barely even cares about Sanji himself.

"Why are you friends with him, man?" Cavendish asks in an exasperated voice. Zoro just shrugs.

"We're not really friends. He just bothers me and I bother him." He's finally done undressing, towel hanging in front of his junk and dirty clothes in his other hand, preparing to head to the showers.

"Seems like friendship to me," Ace pipes up. Zoro just throws his dirty clothes at everyone's showered bodies, socks and everything, laughing when they all holler and shout. He heads to the showers then, draping his towel over the stall door like he always does.

"Fuck out of my business!" Zoro calls, right before he turns the shower tap.

—

He's not late. In fact, he's early.

Early by like, a minute.

So he's on time, basically.

It's the "tomorrow" (which means Saturday) that Sanji was talking about, and Zoro knocks on what he hopes is Sanji's room door, praying that he remembered correctly. Sanji didn't text him the number or anything, so he had to work off of his poor memories. He runs a hand through his hair while he's waiting, trying to get the green locks to dry faster after his morning shower.

The door opens seconds later, and Zoro has to reevaluate whether or not Sanji dresses like a fuckboy, because he currently doesn't really look like one. Hasn't looked like one, actually, since the start of this game.

Sanji's dressed in a long-sleeved button-down oversized shirt (that's a lot of words), coloured white and striped blue, paired with shorts. Shorts.

They actually look like boxers. Why does Zoro feel like he never expected to see _this_?

"Sorry," Sanji apologizes when he sees Zoro's stare on his clothes. He doesn't sound sorry at all. "Was _way_ too fucking lazy, even though I knew you were coming over. Come on in."

It's not a messy place but it's not clean either. Just a normal mix of the two, a sock here and there or a misplaced set of keys. It looks just like Zoro's room but with different little assortments. Their campus is actually more generous when it comes to dorm rooms, so it's not horribly small like Zoro's seen before, though still, not a luxury. Two twin-sized beds on opposite sides of the room, and desks on the left and right of the door, a few feet away. On one desk he can see Sanji’s name-tag and picture that he’d worn in the nurse’s office, and then he determined that the left side of the room is Sanji’s. The wardrobe at the end of Sanji's bed is dark brown and pretty large, and he kind of wants to look inside.

"If it makes you feel better, you can strip down to your underwear," Sanji waves his hand, flopping down onto his bed on the left. "Roommate's out so it's free real estate."

"Yeah, no," Zoro denies. He doesn't know whether or not he should take off his shoes so he doesn't, closing the door behind him.

The awkwardness that follows is bad.

"So... uh, what's up..?"

Sanji kind of smiles. Zoro wonders what that means.

"From this point onward, I'm going to be your hated girlfriend."

"You what?"

" _Zoro_!" Sanji suddenly shouts and— _holy, jesus,_ heart attacks for days. " _Take off your shoes! You're going to get my floor all dirty!_ "

Zoro does it only because he's scared of more yelling, and he's not even done putting them away when Sanji starts to speak—yell?—again.

" _You didn't answer my text yesterday! What did I tell you about texting? I expect an answer in 5 minutes or less!_ "

"You didn't even text," Zoro begins, but he's just cut off.

" _Um yeah, I'm not supposed to text first, you are._ Duh."

Man, Zoro's getting a headache and it's not even a minute in.

"Okay, damn, what am I supposed to do now—"

" _Did you just sweAr at me?!_ " Sanji exclaims, and his voice cracks. Zoro can see him trying to hold back a smile. He's failing pretty bad. " _That is rule number 3598 in our agreement you—you, fucking.._." Maybe Sanji realized that he just swore, or maybe he didn't. " _Poophead_!"

"Sorry." Zoro can barely be mad when he can see how hard Sanji's trying, to be honest.

" _Come, get over here. I need a massage_ ," Sanji flips onto his stomach and Zoro's incredulous—but hey, plans don't work unless all the parties are trying, right?

He does as Sanji asks, arriving next to the bed. He stands there for a moment, watching as Sanji settles into his spot, just laying vertically, face-down on the bed. There's a pile of stuffed animals on the bed, next to the wall. He never thought of Sanji as the stuffed animals kind of person.

" _Well_?" Sanji speaks up, "I asked for a massage."

"This is so fucking weird," Zoro says as he prepares to do it, and Sanji proceeds to kick his feet in the air, managing to make his entire body bounce on the bed. He seems just like a frustrated pup and yeah.

Yeah.

" _What did I just say about sweari_ —"

"Sorry! Sorry, I'll give you your damn—uh, your massage."

Zoro half sits down on the bed so that he's still facing Sanji's back, and he wonders how anyone gives massages with these awkward angles.

He goes for it.

And Zoro realizes, a few seconds later, that it takes two idiots to create a situation as weird as this.

He's kind of hovering over Sanji right now, one foot keeping balance on the bed while the other stays on the ground, and he puts his hands on the spot between Sanji's shoulders and neck, pressing his thumbs into the muscles there. His muscles are so stiff that Zoro's a little surprised, and he takes this more seriously than he probably should.

He somehow ends up fully sitting on the bed cross-legged, and Sanji's arms are now folded under his turned head. Zoro can see that his eyes are closed, and his hair does the thing where it just fans across his face.

Some time passes and Zoro kind of forgets why he's massaging Sanji, focusing on the feel of Sanji's shirt under his hands. He periodically moves his focus to Sanji face, and he always sees the same sight. Closed eye, swirly brow, petal-like lips.

Once Zoro's rubbed circles over Sanji's back and poked his side once just for fun (he enjoyed the flinch he received), Sanji's entire posture just slackens and Zoro scoffs. The guy's having the time of his life.

"What was that sound? Do it again, I dare you," Sanji challenges, and Zoro scoffs, louder this time. Sanji just snorts.

The blond lets out a deep sigh minutes later.

"Game's over, so now I'm just accepting a free massage."

"Fuck you," Zoro says, and he pinches Sanji's back.

"Ow, bastard!" Sanji yelps, scrambling to sit up. Soon after, he grabs Zoro's shoulders with a surprising amount of force, pulling and tossing him so that he lands on the bed in the heap of stuffed animals.

Sanji stands from the bed, victorious smile on his face. Somehow, the first few buttons of his shirt have come undone and his hair looks like he's just come back from a feisty Seven Minutes in Heaven.

"Thank you for your service. How do you feel? Gotten over Nami yet?"

Zoro sits up on the bed, ruffling his hair. "No."

"What? Why not? I swear I was three times the amount of my usual annoyance," Sanji presses his lips together, looking like he was actually thinking about it.

"This just makes me hate you more, and like Nami more. I can't imagine you're her."

Sanji stops moving, and he's got that look on his face. Zoro doesn't like it one bit.

All of a sudden, Zoro's getting pushed back, head nearly hitting the wall when he lands on his back. Sanji's on top of him, hands pressed on his shoulders, hair falling according to gravity. His gaze burns into Zoro's, all hint of amusement gone. He's actually _serious_.

"Imagine it."

Zoro blinks.

_Nami. Girl, doe eyes, perfect nose. Long, orange hair, a thin waist._

_Sanji's kind of attractive_ , Zoro's got to admit—

_Think of Nami, dammit!_

"Nope," Zoro breaks the silence, lifting his arms and pinching Sanji's sides to get him to yelp once more, falling to the side. "Can't do it."

"Gosh, I feel like someone trying to help their friend get it up." Sanji lets out a huff of air, moving so that he's laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Please, never use that comparison again."

Sanji doesn't answer, just staying there as Zoro sits up once more.

"How are we going to fix your erectile dysfunction?"

"Sanji, I swear to god."

Sanji lets out a little laugh, stomach jerking in response, until he starts laughing a little more—which eventually grows until he has to cover his face.

"Thinking back to it, I'm really good at being the bad girlfriend," Sanji states. He laughs a little more.

"Shit, you really are," Zoro agrees, "I was ready to break up with you right then."

They fall into a short moment of silence again, and Zoro turns his head to look down at Sanji. He really, for a short moment there, thought that Sanji was kind of attractive. He wonders what Sanji thinks of him.

"It's hard to imagine that we're adults," Zoro says, instead of mentioning anything about his thoughts.

"Hey, age really doesn't matter when it comes to personality."

Silence.

Sanji laughs. His eye looks like a little moon, Zoro notes.

"I called you a poophead."

"You called me a _poophead_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was straight up crack. Just crack. Sanji acting as an annoying girlfriend is honestly just giving me life. I can’t wait to write more about these two tbh? Probably my most entertaining dynamic so far :))  
> Hope you enjoyed and thank you for all the love!! I absolutely adore reading all of your comments so thank youuu


	9. Drink It

**asshole** 9:23 PM

beep beep i'm coming

to your room

**Zoro** 9:25 PM

No you are not

**asshole** 9:25 PM

:( ?

Is that how you treat

your girlfriend

**Zoro** 9:26 PM

That's how I treat you

**asshole** 9:26 PM

I have alcohol tho

and it's too late, i'm already

at your room :)

Zoro doesn't expect to receive these texts on a Tuesday afternoon, but alas, it's what happened.

It's only a couple of days after the massaging incident and Zoro can still remember every scene perfectly, suddenly thinking about how Sanji's body felt warm under his hands. Those are admittedly some weird thoughts so he shoves them away, thinking back to the present.

He wasn't sure why Sanji wanted to meet up and have a drink—mostly on this day, but Zoro never really has the guts to say no. He usually has no problem, but as the days with Sanji pass, he's starting to think something's wrong with him.

A second after Zoro thinks of this, he hears a knock on his dorm room's door. He lets out a deep sigh but decides there's really nothing he can do about it, standing up from his bed to get to the door.

He opens it to a grinning Sanji, who's holding what seems to be a bottle of dessert wine, cups in hand.

"Is there a reason why it's dessert wine? I was expecting actual alcohol," Zoro states, watching as Sanji practically makes himself at home, passing Zoro without even asking if he could enter.

"I wasn't trying to get us smashed, boy," Sanji replies, sitting on Ace’s bed after having toed off his shoes. "Unless that's what you want." Cue the waggling eyebrows.

"Not a Tuesday night, no. I do want to drink 'till I drop though, sometime this month."

Sanji hums (because he does that a lot and Zoro's not sure if it's a habit or what), before saying: "You know, Jason Croc's got a party coming up soon."

"Of course I know."

"Yeah," Sanji's thumb presses on the side of the bottle's cork, lips pursing in concentration, speech distracted, "You should go, as my little girlfriend."

Zoro lets out a laugh. "Yeah fucking right. If anyone's going to be a little girlfriend, it's going to be you—"

The pop of a freshly opened bottle interrupts Zoro, and then it's the sight of something flying at Zoro at high speeds. And maybe, maybe if Zoro wasn't an avid sports player who had to depend on all of his senses, he would've been hit right in the eye and blinded. But he is an avid sports player, and his reaction time is surprisingly sharp so he dodges the cork within a hair's breadth.

"Oops," Sanji says, once the cork has bounced off the wall and landed next to Zoro’s thigh.

" _Oops_? Would you have paid me millions if I went _blind_?" Zoro nearly exclaims and Sanji only laughs, pouring the wine into mugs.

Zoro stares at the cups almost warily, wondering if he should really drink. He didn't expect to be drinking on a school night, but he mostly didn't expect that he'd be drinking wine from a mug with Sanji. Then again, any situation with Sanji is always a surprise.

The blond really is something else, spilling a little bit of the drink on his thigh and shrugging it off like it didn't bother him in the slightest. Granted Zoro wouldn’t have been bothered if his pants got wine on them, but Sanji seemed like the type to be devastated. Then again he also seems to own ten of the same pairs of black jeans.

Sanji glances at him and seems to notice the gears turning in Zoro’s mind, offering one of the mugs to him either way.

"I'd be fine with getting drunk all by myself, but it's a little more fun if you joined."

Zoro thinks about it and soon after decides that Sanji's got a point, like he usually does. His brain works in weird ways that Zoro can always somehow get behind.

The football player accepts the mug that's given to him and he takes a sip, nodding a little bit when the taste hits his tongue. Sweet. He’s more of a hard alcohol guy but he won’t complain.

Zoro watches as Sanji settles himself comfortably on Ace’s bed, bottle of wine left on the bedside table and back against the wall facing Zoro.

"So," the guy begins, "Why do you want to drink 'till you drop?"

The mosshead almost doesn't remember what Sanji's talking about before it dawns on him, the previous conversation coming back. "Just because."

"Hope this isn't about Nami. You're supposed to be getting over her, you know." Sanji takes another gulp of his wine, and then frowns, lips a little red. "I'll get jealous."

Zoro just rolls his eyes, taking his own sip of the wine, "I don't really care."

"Jeez, you're mean. I go all the way over here with some nice wine—"

"—That you served in _coffee mugs_ —"

"—And then you say you don't care about my feelings. I'm heartbroken, really."

Silence follows, and Zoro doesn't stare at Sanji, wondering if the dumbass noticed that he completely avoided his actual question. He wonders why Sanji decided to drink tonight, and when he glances back at the man on his mind, Zoro sees him staring at something in a daze.

He's suddenly reminded of the night he found Sanji standing outside alone.

"Aren't you already?" Zoro suddenly says, "...Heartbroken, I mean."

Anybody else would've probably shot Zoro a dirty look for that offhanded comment, but all Sanji does is press his lips together in a bitter smile.

"I mean. Yeah," Sanji agrees, and Zoro notices how his thumb is awkwardly rubbing the rim of his cup.

Sanji, feeling awkward. It seems like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

"Who was she?"

Sanji lets out a bark of laughter, and it's crazy how he's already back to normal. "She's not _dead_ , dipshit."

"Well—yeah but, I don't know, she's apart of the past and everything... since you broke up."

Sanji just proceeds to shrug, a secretive little smile on his face. Zoro can only wonder what that smile means.

"You wouldn't want to know."

At that, Zoro raises his eyebrow, wondering why Sanji would ever say that, until—

_Holy shit._

He almost spits his wine out but stops himself in time, looking at Sanji like he'd just confessed to molesting a squirrel.

"What the hell is wrong with your face?" Sanji questions, laughing, eye showing a moon again.

Thinking to all the girls he's seen Sanji interact with, there's only one that would really bother Zoro if they were in a relationship together. He's even seen Sanji talking with her outside of class, on the football field for example.

 _Is Sanji with_ Nami _?_

"It's..." Zoro stops himself from saying anything stupid, deciding that he shouldn't even ask.

It was all too connected, after all. Sanji, coming up to him to help him get over Nami, Nami, confessing that she can't be with her love, and Sanji on that same night, saying that he broke it off with his girl.

Man.

It would make sense why Sanji was so eager to help him get over Nami.

 _Man_ , Zoro was played pretty hard, wasn't he?

It's probably why Sanji treats Zoro the way he does, with all the arrogance and obnoxious humour, because he's got the one thing Zoro wishes he had.

Zoro doesn't say anything. Wouldn't, until the time was right. He could still be wrong, after all, but if he wasn't, he wants things to be in his favour. Preferably when, by some off chance, he has the upper hand.

"Zoro?"

He snaps out of it, blinking a few times.

"You didn't hear a word that I said."

"No, I didn't," Zoro says, and then just leans his head back against the wall, letting out a deep sigh.

He wants to get _so_ drunk.

—

Zoro thought his Tuesday couldn't get any weirder, but emptying the wine bottle with Sanji definitely wasn't the best option to choose. The two of them are currently walking—or stumbling—through the aisles of a convenience store, looking for the ice cream.

"This—god, _this_ ," Sanji nearly moans, sliding open the ice cream door and reaching for one of the Melona sticks, "Is heaven."

"Shut the fuck up," Zoro scolds when Sanji makes another oddly sexual noise, and his face feels hot because of the alcohol running through his veins. He's not even drunk, to be honest, because he's got a high tolerance and all, but being with Sanji makes it feel like he's drunk as hell. And that's pretty weird, but it makes sense in Zoro's mind. Mostly when Sanji's drunk off his ass, and from merely some weak dessert wine. "You are so loud."

"I am. My girlie even said I'm louder in bed compared to other dudes."

"Fucking—" Zoro grabs Sanji’s arm, pulling him over to the cashier to get this over and done with. "Pay up. You owe me for dragging your drunk ass around."

The guy manning the register does not look amused.

Sanji does end up paying though, for the five bars of Melona that he had grabbed haphazardly when Zoro was busy pulling him away from the ice cream.

They leave the store minutes later, walking in the open night air while Zoro hopes ice cream somehow has a sobering effect.

Sanji's mumbling something about strawberry being his favourite, rifling through the plastic bag as Zoro shoves his hands into his pockets, breathing in the fresh air.

When Sanji’s happily eating his ice cream, they're a quarter of the way back to their dorm. Zoro doesn't know how they managed to walk so far, but he blames it on Sanji for being so determined on his quest for ice cream.

"Can you be any louder?" Zoro asks when Sanji slurps the ice bar loudly. Almost inhumanely so.

"I can, actually," Sanji states, and then he seems to be readying himself, only to get Zoro to interrupt him.

"Please don't."

"You think this is like sucking dick?" Sanji suddenly questions.

"I fucking hope not. If your partner's dick is melting while you're going down on him, something's wrong."

Sanji cackles, and Zoro almost subconsciously grabs the idiot when his idiot foot gets caught in a hole on the ground. He manages to stop himself though, and Sanji catches himself on time, whistling about how that was "a close one".

"You know, I've never sucked dick before," Sanji says out of the blue (but not really because he already brought the topic up earlier).

"Wow, cool," Zoro deadpans.

"I wonder if it tastes bad."

"Please stop."

Sanji then hops in front of him, blocking his path. He still looks drunk, grin spread wide on his face. "Why? Are you afraid of gays?"

"No, but I'm afraid of _you_."

"Oh come _on_ ," Sanji drawls, spinning in his spot to start walking again, now in front of Zoro. "You know that I like girls. I even had a girlfriend like, a week ago." Sanji is waving his ice cream bar in the air, and Zoro half hopes that it falls and lands on the concrete ground, but he's more focused on Sanji’s words.

Just thinking about who Sanji's ex-girlfriend could've been makes him have a headache, and he honestly wouldn't mind ice cream himself.

He doesn't say anything in response to Sanji, merely continuing his journey to somehow clear his mind. It's a little hard to clear his mind though, even when the night air feels this good. Sanji's making it hard to forget about his dilemma of Nami x the asshole himself.

Zoro suddenly wonders if drunk Sanji will tell him who it is.

He has an idea that he could probably pull off with some vague questions about Nami’s love life, and it may confirm his suspicions depending on how Sanji responds.

"You know," Zoro speaks up, unsure if Sanji's even listening or not. "Nami’s got some secret love. Crazy, right?"

And it's a cheap trick, but emotions and words are harder to control when you're drunk.

When Sanji hears the second part of Zoro’s sentence, his steps stop and Zoro catches up to him in two or three of his own strides, stopping next to him and observing his expression.

"Do you know who it is?"

Sanji doesn't answer, and he almost looks a mixture of alarmed and... sad?

It's kind of... way too obvious, when Sanji has an expression like that on his face. Zoro almost regrets asking. He then thinks about what he just did, trying to pry information out of a drunk person. He decides not to ask any further, letting out another one of his deep sighs.

He continues walking, mumbling a: "Nevermind."

His steps are slower to let Sanji catch up, which does happen after a couple of seconds. The atmosphere is only awkward for 2 more seconds, because Sanji starts talking again as if he'd forgotten everything Zoro just asked him.

The rest of the walk back is filled with Sanji saying some random things, like how he regrets grabbing the green ice cream because it tasted like ass (offering said "ass" flavour to Zoro right after), asking Zoro yes or no questions, and simply being talkative like usual.

Zoro just listens to their footsteps on the concrete, gaze kept on the sky, answering Sanji sometimes. Glancing at Sanji sometimes.

Sanji... With Nami.

It makes him feel bad. Frustrated.

Not because Nami’s got her heart taken.

More so because of the fact that it means Sanji's interactions with him were just for some ploy.

But that's what Sanji said they were, from the very beginning. The whole thing with Law daring Sanji to be his friend. It would really be no different if Sanji did this to get Zoro away from Nami.

Whatever, Zoro says to himself. It hasn't even been more than a month since he's known Sanji, so, fuck it. Sanji can do whatever the hell he wants.

Zoro kind of enjoys his company anyway, so it doesn't matter. He'll just go along with it. Go with the flow. He's truly a king when it comes to going with the flow.

Zoro tunes back into their one-sided conversation, forgetting about his previous thoughts.

"And then Bartolomeo just took my notes for no reason," Sanji finishes his story.

"That's great."

"That is not _great_ , I nearly got less than 85% on that test—"

The blond nearly runs into a pole.

Zoro rolls his eyes but grabs Sanji’s arm, pulling him closer to his side.

"Dumbass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I barely know where this is going myself so :)) I have the general plot in place but details just escape me soooo yeah thanks for reading thus far! I love you all and I’ll see you next update (probs tomorrow)


	10. Study It

Zoro hasn't gotten over his History 101 mark, to be honest. It's kind of devastating, and it doesn't help that he barely knows what's currently going on in the class.

His ankle's fully healed now, and it feels great to run on the field again. It's been one or two weeks since he sprained it, and it's pretty unbelievable that that's the same amount of time he's known the blond sitting rows in front of him. Thinking about Sanji makes Zoro want to scoff, or just flat out laugh. He's got to admit though, after spending some of the afternoon texting the idiot a few days after their alcoholic shenanigans, he's an interesting person.

Zoro's aware that he's daydreaming (or just thinking of something else because he'd never daydream about Sanji) during class but he's unable to stop it. He only really notices when someone coughs next to him and he snaps back to reality, looking at the board at the front and not recognizing any of those words and dates.

Zoro should just give up on History, at this point.

Or, maybe he could ask someone for help.

He doesn't have many people to ask, because he only really knows a few people in that class. Those people being: Ace, Jason, Nami, and Sanji. He already knows that Ace wouldn't help him even if he paid (the guy is always busy either playing games, going out, or doing sports, but he somehow gets relatively good marks) and Jason, to be honest, gave off the air that he couldn't study or teach for the life of him.

Crossing those two out, his list is left with Nami and Sanji.

The ex-couple.

Jeez, Zoro's mood drops from even thinking about that.

From his spot in the back of the class, he glances at the back of Sanji's head and then to Nami's—who, Zoro realizes, is sitting further away from the male than he remembered. She usually sits in the third row on the right, whereas Sanji sits in the third on the left. Now, however, she's suddenly in the first row, even further to the right. She's still sitting with her friends though—Vivi, the princess-like girl that Zoro would admit was almost an angel, and Robin, the devil herself. The latter is, however, quite cool, but Zoro just can't describe the sinister vibes he feels whenever she talks. He hasn't talked to the other two that much, but because of how he hangs out with Nami's he's always bound to interact somehow.

Zoro tells himself to stop stalking, deciding there that he was going to ask Nami instead of Sanji. He can kind of tell that though Sanji would probably be capable of teaching him, he'd never make it through a lesson without being made fun of.

Nami on the other hand, would probably be a good teacher, forgetting about the fee he'd probably have to pay her.

Zoro almost physically feels better at the thought; the two of them sitting side by side, notes out and studying together. (Compared to the disaster that'd arrive if he decided to ask Sanji.) Plus, they've actually done it before, but it was usually done in silence. If she was in the middle of teaching him, though, Zoro would be listening to her voice a lot.

And if that doesn't convince him even further, he doesn't know what will.

So he sits through the rest of class thinking about what to ask her, eraser-side of his pencil tapping on the table. Ace nudges him a few times to tell him to stop the miniscule amount of noise he was making, and Zoro always nodded but got back to it seconds later. The class ends only when Zoro's truly lost himself in his daydreams, people suddenly packing up before his eyes.

He stands up hastily when he sees this, shoving all of his stuff into his backpack to quickly make his way to the stair section, and then down to Nami. He thinks he hears Ace call his name but he can't really pay attention to that, only a few rows away from her now.

He would've made it before she left, but a hand stops him on his chest, a body soon standing in front of him, one step lower. Sanji.

"And where do you think you're going?" the blond asks, and Zoro opens his mouth to answer but quickly stops himself, aware of Trafalgar Law, standing a step or two away from them. "Oh," Sanji says after noticing his dilemma, "Don't worry about it. Law knows everything."

"He what?"

"You know what I said. Trust me, 'secret's safe with this guy. He barely talks, unless it's with me of course. He's the most loyal guy I know, so tell me: what were you going to do?"

Zoro gives Law one last wary look before shrugging, trying to seem casual. His eyes glance behind Sanji, where he can see Nami making her way to leave the class. "Just gonna talk to people about football, you know, the norm."

Sanji narrows his eyes. Zoro wonders when he became such a bad liar—or was he always a bad liar?

"Really?"

"Really."

He's not convincing at all.

Sanji takes in a breath.

" _Zoro_!" _Fuck_ , Zoro immediately thinks, " _You know I don't like it when you talk to other girls_!" Sanji basically yells in a higher pitched voice, and Zoro feels his insides literally combusting. He sees Nami turn and check the commotion from his peripherals.

"Shut up, holy shit."

" _It makes Sanji-kun feel very_ very _jealous_ —!"

 _Dear God_ , is his one thought when Sanji doesn't stop. There are still people in the class and though they might not have been paying attention, it's still the worst thing Zoro's heard. _Where is this guy's shame?_

"— _And you won't like it when Sanji-kun is jealous!_ "

"I get it, okay?" Zoro quickly says, "I understand now please—"

" _Say sorry you dumbass!_ " he even stomps his foot and Zoro's really getting to his wits end with this dude. " _I always forgive you but then you go and do mean things like this! Sanji isn't going to let you continue—mmph!_ "

Zoro does what he knows will for sure shut Sanji up, placing a hand over Sanji's mouth and muffling the horrid fucking words, his other hand holding the back of Sanji's neck like he's ready to twist it and kill him (maybe he is). He's suddenly closer to Sanji than he remembered being, and he can see the flutter of Sanji's eyelashes from this angle and closeness. Law's still standing awkwardly on the side. It seems that Nami and her friends decided that the spectacle is over and are finally leaving the room. 

He thinks that Sanji licked his hand or his breath felt wet on his palm, but either one gets him to pull away a second later, after he's realized just what the hell he was doing.

"That was gross," he hears Sanji say, while he himself is wiping his hand on his pants. He chooses to ignore and forget that Sanji ever made that last remark, and to save himself the trouble of possibly going through that ever again, he answers Sanji's question.

"I was going to ask Nami for some help, okay? Nothing weird, I swear," Zoro promises.

"Help?" Sanji questions, and he seems actually confused. "I thought you were going to ask for a date or something, with the determined look on your face and all."

"No... I'm just..." Zoro trails off, "Really struggling with this class."

"You are?" Sanji asks.

Zoro sighs and nods-slash-shrugs, looking away. That's when he sees Cavendish's head peak into the room, and then that familiar look of recognition on his face.

"Yo, Zoro! Why are you still here?! Let's go!" Cavendish yells, and Sanji turns to see who it is.

When Cavendish sees that it's Sanji, Zoro can see him roll his eyes. He can also imagine what's going through Cavendish's mind—probably something like " _why is Zoro hanging out with that guy again?_ ".

Trust me, Zoro's asked himself that question many times.

"The others are waiting for you, so hurry your ass up," Cavendish finishes, but there's a harsh tone to his voice and he turns away, almost seeming to be storming away.

"Uh," Zoro begins, once it's just the three of them in the class.

"How about I help you study?" Sanji suggests, and it takes a second for Zoro to register what he said.

"You? Help me study?" Zoro repeats. He kind of just wants Sanji to go back on his words. He's most definitely sure that he'll be made fun of 24/7 because of his historical knowledge.

"Yeah, me," Sanji answers, snorting.

"Hah," Zoro says, pretending that he hadn't already crossed Sanji off of his mental list of teachers, "That's okay, you don't need to."

"Oh come on, you know I'm smart."

Zoro furrows his brows and contemplates it, but when he takes a second too long, Sanji ends up bumping his arm with his elbow.

"Tomorrow at 7 PM then. Main Library." He gives Zoro a smile—and it's kind of a reassuring one somehow—before pulling his backpack up and heading down the rest of the stairs, taking his leave with Law.

Well, Zoro thinks, _this will be fun_.

—

Zoro finds him on the library's first floor, where any amount of noise is allowed. He expected for Sanji to be at a table but he isn't, instead sitting in the corner hidden away from other people, on the beanbags. Zoro had spent one or two minutes searching for him, because of his strange choice of location.

There's a Starbucks on the first floor and Zoro notices that Sanji's bought himself a drink, watching as he takes a sip before setting it on the floor beside him. The football player never expected this, but when he looks at Sanji's face he sees glasses perched on his nose; wired, round, and simple. His fringe is still covering his other eye though so Zoro wonders where the point in that is.

Zoro walks up to him and plops himself onto the beanbag next to Sanji, setting his backpack on the floor too. It's a little uncomfortable so Zoro half stands to readjust his spot, until the beanbag is between him and the wall and he can lean back comfortably, legs straight in front of him.

"Hey," Zoro says when Sanji doesn't stop reading from his textbook.

"Hey," Sanji replies, and flips the page.

"So, where should we start?" Zoro questions, pulling out his books. "You're my tutor or whatever, so you gotta lead me, right?"

The blond hums, eyes flitting over the page before he says: "I suppose."

Rolling his eyes, Zoro falls back, gaze going to the books on the closest top-shelf he can see. After a bit he closes his eyes, cause he's kinda tired with it being 7 PM. He had also come back from a tiring football practice, and basketball intramurals are starting so he had to polish his skills. He had busy days coming up, and he's not really sure why they decided to study now.

Opening one of his eyes (an acquired skill after many years of practice) he sees that Sanji is still reading, groaning quietly to himself before he sinks in his spot, nearly laying now as he places both hands behind his head, swearing that he could fall asleep.

He hears Sanji snort and then there's a tap on his thigh, presumably from the book in Sanji's hand. When Zoro opens his eyes, it's to Sanji who's moved closer to him, now on his knees and one hand, slightly hovering over him.

"I wondered how long you could last without attention."

Zoro coughs, "What does that even mean?"

"I mean, Mr. Popular doesn't go long without attention, am I correct?"

Zoro shakes his head in response to his question and Sanji lets out an "aha, you know I'm right" before Zoro interrupts his parroting. "Actually, I could do without the attention most times."

"Oh really? And why is that?" the blond questions, falling back and grabbing the bean bag he was previously sitting on, throwing it next to Zoro.

"Without people around I get time to think and recharge. You called it yoga that one time. Sometimes others are just overbearing."

"Oho, is our Zoro-san an actual introvert? I never would have guessed!"

"Shut up, it doesn't make a big difference."

"I mean..." he pauses, and then Zoro notices that the conversation takes a weird serious turn, "If you actually think that, you don't need to keep letting yourself get dragged around... Sometimes even I can notice that other people are just clutching onto you like leeches."

"It's... not that simple."

Sanji just stares at him for a moment, and then he turns away, laughing to himself, "Yeah, I can't really be preaching when _I’m_ one of those people leeching onto you, and I can't even control my own life."

Zoro wouldn’t necessarily say that Sanji’s leeching off of him. It might’ve been what he thought before, but now... 

He’s more focused, however, on the second part of Sanji’s sentence.

"...How so—"

"Now, let's actually start this studying session. I'm guessing you failed the last test?" Sanji questions, reaching for his bag. Zoro has to recover from the sudden change in topic, but he decides that he can pry another time, accepting the shift and going with it.

"You guessed correctly," Zoro grumbles. Sanji laughs, pulling out his books and throwing them rather roughly in between Zoro and his legs.

"It's fine, your favourite girlfriend is here to help."

"Yeah, yeah."

They end up studying for an hour or two, and it's hard to admit this but it's probably the most helpful tutoring session Zoro's ever received. History being history, Sanji stated that it was all just a story with some concepts that needed to be understood. He explains the different events using some rather colourful vocabulary (something Zoro's going to remember for the rest of his life) and makes it amusing, even drawing out things when Zoro says that he still doesn't understand.

Zoro's shocked by the end of the night because he'd just uncovered another part to Sanji. It wasn't far from his usually playful personality, but there was also a hint of patience and understanding that Sanji usually didn't seem to have. He seemed like he'd be good with kids.

The two of them leave the library at around nine-thirty, a Starbucks cake-pop in Sanji's hand courtesy of Zoro's money.

"It's cute! It looks like a polar bear," Sanji says, holding it out in front of him.

"The more I get to know you, the more I realize your weird fascination for food."

Sanji pouts jokingly, and then he's pointing the cake-pop at Zoro to wage war. "Food is amazing, Zoro. It's patience and creativity and knowledge all placed into a product that will eventually be able to feed someone, or just make their day." He looks at the cake pop in his hand after saying that, as if looking at something Zoro can't see. "It's art."

"You sound like a cooking major."

"The right term would be culinary arts major," he corrects Zoro.

"If you know so much about it then why aren't you one?"

Sanji seems to visibly falter, and in his hesitation he somehow loses his grip on the cake pop and the stick falls out of his fingers. The dessert ends up on the ground.

The look of despair on Sanji's face is movie-worthy, and Zoro can't help but laugh, the sound travelling far in the empty night.

"Five-second rule!" Sanji exclaims, but when he grabs the stick Zoro just grabs his arm, pulling him back up.

"You do _not_ want to eat off of that cement. The amount of shit that's on that one spot is probably enough to kill you."

"But it's _food_ —"

Zoro rolls his eyes and begins tugging Sanji back to the library, and therefore back to Starbucks.

Sanji doesn't say anything, and Zoro somehow feels that he's still pouting in that special way of his.

"I'm getting you another one, so stop being sad."

A moment later, Sanji says: "I'm not sad." For some reason, there's a mischevious tone to his voice. Zoro turns to look at Sanji's expression and sees that he's got some sort of smirk on his face. That never means anything good.

"What are you—"

"Since you're being such a perfect boyfriend to me, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I did _this_ —" Sanji barely finishes his sentence when Zoro feels two hands on his shoulders, and then the idiot seemingly jumps, attaching onto his back in an attempt to get a piggy-back ride.

And Zoro's strong, but not strong enough for a surprise attack like that.

"You idiot!" Zoro exclaims, his balance failing him as he tries to grab Sanji's legs and stabilize himself. It doesn't work, and just like Sanji's cake-pop, they end up on the ground. Zoro groans from the pain in his knees and the side of his leg, while Sanji just laughs hard, sounding as if he's on the verge of choking. "I literally just told you how much shit was on this ground."

"Five-second rule!" Sanji yells in between his laughter. "And fuck whatever shit's on the ground, it won't stop me." He shoves the cake-pop in his mouth that he’d held all this time and Zoro almost chokes on his shock, but then he figures that he should've expected this. With Sanji's whole speech about cooking being an art, it wasn't crazy that the man wouldn't want to waste a cake-pop.

Sanji stands up before Zoro does, wiping off his pants. "Alright, so you said you'd get me another one?"

"I never said that."

"You did."

"No I did not."

Sanji laughs. “Fine. I give up. This time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Sanji a literal crackhead? I’m not sure but I love it  
> Thanks for all the support and the lovely comments! I hope you enjoyed this chapter ahhh


	11. Just a Note...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t an actual chapter lol

So hello, this is me, author. I have something to confess about this fic 

Basically, this was originally not written for Zosan

It has a complicated past lol. Book-san is a jaded character with a messed up villain past (lol jk I just like being dramatic)

Here’s how it went down: 

I wrote this on another site for another fandom, but then decided to take it down because I didn’t like what I was writing for anymore. I didn’t like the community, I didn’t like the writing, I didn’t like the ship... And then yeah I took down the book. 

Problem solved? Not really. I tried to turn it into an OC book so their names were Cleo and Ace (ngl I still find the names cute and fitting, Cleo was Sanji’s name and Ace was Zoro’s... ironic I know but I love the name), because although I didn’t like why I was writing this book, I still loved the plot and ideas. I never got back to republishing or continuing to write it because I just lost all motivation to do anything on that other site and basically got afraid of releasing my own original characters. But people kept encouraging me over there to republish and so I was in a really confusing place for like... the whole of 2019. Then somewhere near the end of 2019 when I was thrust back into One Piece and started writing fics for Zosan (yes, all of my other fics are 100% meant for Zosan), I lowkey remembered how fun it was to write. So then I saw this book, Get Over It, in my works, and just kinda felt sad cause I could never finish it. 

I then proceed to publish it on AO3 on a whim. I’m like, yeah they’re gonna be ooc, yeah it’s a book that has my writing from the past and is probably trash, but as I’ve already said, I kind of liked it too much to let go of it :p And now that I have a ship that I actually like and enjoy writing for, and a place and community that I like writing in, I was like... yea. Let’s do that. 

So what was originally Chanyeol x Baekhyun then turned into Ace x Cleo (yeahuh some of you guys noticed when I didn’t change a name) and _finally_ turned into Zoro x Sanji. Yeah I was a kpop stan. I kind of cringe when I think back to shipping idols, but yaknow life is life. We all do funny things—no I’m not kpop shaming you I’m just saying it’s personally not my thing anymore. 

Yup. So that’s how I publish daily. I already had ~15 chapters written for another ship. And that’s why the book is so atrociously out of character, and if compared to my other works, is very, very different. 

That’s... it basically. Just felt like I needed to come clean because I was being a little unfair. This doesn’t change the fact that I love Zosan or this book or you guys but just wanted to let you know because I will make more mistakes in not correcting names, and more people will be confused but don’t be, cause this is what it is

Man why do I feel like I’m currently breaking up with someone (even tho I’ve never done that). Err anyway I understand if you guys feel put off from this book now, just know that I’ll still be here publishing the chapters, and when the time comes that I run out of what I originally had, I’ll still be writing new ones :) 

And have a great day! Hope you understand where I’m coming from and don’t hate me too much after this :v


	12. Beat It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now isn’t that title strangely vulgar?

It's Jason Croc's infamous party.

Zoro's already feeling a little stuffy from the huge crowd, but he can't complain because of his status. It still sucks that he's already had three girls try to get with him, and it's really only been fifteen minutes.

It’s a Saturday, and the only real event that he could chalk back to being significant was his study day with Sanji a week ago. Since then he’d only been attending his sports practices, getting ready for football championships, and studying even more. Jason Croc’s party had been advertised the whole week—and even before that—and so when Saturday rolled around, Zoro thought he might as well give himself a break. 

It hardly ended up being a break, because again, he didn’t really “do” the whole party s cene. He does appreciate the booze though, which is primarily why he’s there now.

He also looks for Nami, but she isn’t there either which is strange. She’s a partier, but Zoro figures either her friend Vivi or Robin convinced her to stay home.

He heads to the room where all the alcohol is kept, planning to get himself a rather strong drink. Countless people greet him when he arrives, and he gives them a bright smile to hide the discomfort he feels. He pours what seems to be the strongest alcohol Jason has, filling up his cup. It doesn't really matter what he drinks anyway, because he's really good at holding his alcohol.

But apparently, someone else isn't.

An hour or so into the party when the clock showed eleven, Zoro hears familiar laughter. He turns and sees Sanji, apparently drunk off of his mind and popping jello shots into his mouth like he wasn't a complete lightweight.

Surprisingly, he's got a dude hanging off him, getting pretty up-close and personal. Sanji doesn't seem to mind it though—actually seems like he's welcoming it—and that raises questions in Zoro's mind. Multiple.

The moment Sanji sees Zoro though, his entire face lights up and he begins making his way over.

"My boyfriend!" Sanji exclaims. Zoro quickly looks around him to see if anyone caught Sanji calling him that. The coast: clear.

Sanji proceeds to toss his arm over Zoro's shoulder, and then the two of them are wobbling.

"You came to see me!" Sanji yells over the music. Zoro tries to tell him that no, he really didn't go over to see Sanji, but he doesn't even get the chance. Before he can say anything, his cup is swiped from his hand and Sanji downs all of it—and does Zoro even have to remind anyone that he just refilled his cup with stronger alcohol than usual?

Sanji lets out a cheer and basically goes lax in Zoro's arms, tossing the solo cup behind him and forcing the taller to hold all of his weight.

"This is precisely why I didn't go over here to meet you," Zoro says under his breath and Sanji laughs at whatever it is he's thinking about, leaning completely into Zoro. If Zoro didn't know that Sanji was legitimately the lightest of the lightweight, he would've thought that this was all an act to get chummy.

"You know, while I was talking to some of the dudes over there, they gave me a really good idea," Sanji babbles, and Zoro's not really paying attention. He's more so trying to keep Sanji from falling over while the dumbass hangs almost lifelessly with his arm around Zoro's neck.

So when Sanji drags them to the kitchen, Zoro complies, merely grateful that Sanji's decided to use his own feet again.

"And what's this ingenious idea of yours?" Zoro questions, asking only to amuse him. Sanji giggles, and the taller holds back the roll of his eyes.

"Who can drink the most!" Sanji exclaims, and he grabs a bottle that's entirely too full.

"Uh, yeah, no. I don't want you to throw up on me like some fucking idiot," Zoro states, trying to grab the dangerous concoction from his hands. Sanji doesn't listen, and just like Zoro's cup of alcohol, he downs this one. Zoro doesn't hold back this time, sighing loudly and hoping that Sanji could hear his frustration over the music and the partiers.

"And then, you know," Sanji speaks, "We need to play a game of spin the bottle."

"No, absolutely not. Come on, let's get you—"

Sanji's body lurches and Zoro thinks he's falling, only to realize that the asshole was throwing up all over his clothes, just like Zoro was hoping he wouldn't do. Sanji's stomach definitely rejected all the alcohol it had just received.

"Fuck my life," Zoro groans.

"That's the spirit!" Sanji yells, and then proceeds to puke out even more of the ungodly amount of alcohol in his system.

—

"Oh, Jesus."

"You've got that right," Zoro answers the complaint.

The figure on the bed (wrapped up in sheets) moves again, an arm emerging from the chaos worthlessly.

Zoro watches in amusement from his spot, phone still in hand but now a mere background item, the image of Sanji tangling himself in blankets front and centre.

"What time is it?" Sanji questions. They can both still hear the music from downstairs.

"Currently, 1 AM."

"Damn, I knocked out for two hours? Must be why I feel like shit. Sober shit."

"Yeah, that and the fact that you threw up most of the alcohol in your body."

Sanji seems to have figured out how to free himself of the blankets, but instead of fully doing so, he just turns to Zoro. His head is now the only thing out in the open, hair ruffled as he gives Zoro a cheesy smile.

"I see you waited there the entire time."

"Yup." Zoro doesn't even deny it.

"You're taking this game very seriously," Sanji says, before letting out a sigh and rolling onto his back.

Zoro raises an eyebrow, keeping his comment to himself—the comment that he didn't consider any of this part of the game. He was just doing it because... because. He didn't really know why, himself.

"God fuck, I really wanna go back to sleep," Sanji says, throwing an arm over his eye.

"Do it, I don't really care."

"Yeah, but what will you do then? Watch over me like some lovesick main character?" he asks, letting out a chuckle at his own words. "Well, actually, I could go for a few rounds of _Mario Kart_."

" _Mario Kart_ ," Zoro deadpans.

"What? Jason's got all the consoles you could dream of, and _Mario Kart_ is one of my favourite games."

He throws the blankets on his body off, rolling almost lazily off the bed. Zoro watches him do so with amusement, expecting him to just leave the room. Except, he doesn't, backpedalling when he realizes that Zoro hasn't stood up yet.

"Come on, let's go play. I'm not doing this alone," Sanji states, and he grabs Zoro's wrist, barely mindful of the phone he currently has in his hand.

Before Zoro even knows it, he's being dragged down the hallway and stairs, the grip on his wrist never faltering. The view of Sanji's back is strange because it makes something warm grow in Zoro's heart, starting from the contact of skin on skin.

He feels like he should be saying something, but instead he just follows Sanji, listening as the sound of music gets louder with each of their steps. He can still hear the people too, even at this time. They're still yelling and screaming joyfully.

Zoro wants to do that too; get drunk and just party like his life depends on it, and yet... Here he is, about to play _Mario Kart_ with his pretend boyfriend.

They start having to force their way through groups of people, arriving at the most congested area in Jason's house: the living room. Zoro doesn't remember it being this much of a mess when he was there a few hours ago, but now there seemed to be things and people sprawled everywhere on the three couches, as well as those same things scattered on the ground. The huge flatscreen TV is on though, and unsurprisingly, some partyer already turned on the Nintendo switch to play _Mario Kart_ , but left it after playing a few rounds.

"Get off, we're using this couch now," Sanji says, kicking off the dude sitting spread-legged on the middle couch.

"Oh come on man, just chill with me," he drawls, and Zoro sees Sanji roll his eyes before grabbing the obviously drunk guy's shirt, pulling him up and basically pushing him onto the couple on the couch next to them.

Sanji picks up the two controllers from where they were discarded, finally letting go of Zoro's wrist to fall back onto the couch. Zoro follows suit, taking the controller that Sanji hands to him.

After a minute of Sanji changing the game's settings, they're playing a 1 v 1.

Sanji's better at games than Zoro expected him to be, laughing easily when he beats Zoro in their first round.

"I was just getting warmed up," Zoro states, pulling his sweater's sleeves up to the crook of his elbow.

Sanji snorts, pushing Zoro with his arm. "Beat me in the next round then, game master."

Zoro does end up beating Sanji, but only because of the luck he surprisingly has with his items. They spend the next hour or so playing around on the Nintendo Switch, the two of them eventually falling into mindless conversations as they played.

"Nah, tomorrow I'm going to sleep at the ass crack of dawn—oh you asshole." Sanji insults when Zoro manages to knock into him, taking the lead. "I swear to Jesus—" he starts, basically leaning his body into Zoro's when he turns his controller to the left. "I swear to _God_ —"

Zoro laughs when he just barely manages to beat Sanji, crossing over the finish line milliseconds before him.

It's fun seeing Sanji get frustrated like this, because Zoro didn't imagine that Sanji would be like that. He seemed like someone who'd never lose his cool over something like games. (Actually not really, he’d just never thought of it.) And now here he is, swearing and cursing at Zoro like he'd just eaten his dog.

 _Nah_ , Zoro tells himself, because it's obvious that there are many sides of Sanji that he doesn't know yet, and he's further convinced by these facts, the later they get into the night.

When Sanji talks about what he does in his day, his hobbies, and then about how he would further help Zoro with his History, the taller finds himself getting distracted from the game. So distracted—and entranced, even—that he accidentally messes up and gives Sanji the lead.

The more he talks to Sanji, the more he realizes that Sanji really isn't a bad guy. I mean, the guy volunteers at a soup kitchen.

So he's there, sitting like a goddamn idiot too engrossed in the conversation—in Sanji, to bother winning the game.

Oh, man.

Were those _butterflies_ fluttering in his stomach, when Sanji turned over to him with a smile on his face? (A victorious smile for having beaten Zoro, but a smile nonetheless.)

He's now too distracted by the thoughts in his head to play seriously, because if he thought before, the contact with Sanji's hand on his wrist was bad, he was certainly not ready for the current situation.

Even the brush of Sanji's leg against his was getting him nervous.

 _Nervous_.

 _Snap the hell out of it_ , Zoro tells himself. He clearly still has alcohol in his system, so these reactions are normal. These _thoughts_ are normal, he reasons with himself. Morning come, he'll be himself again.

Yeah, no.

Sanji's eye is basically sparkling. He looks great, too great, maybe, for an idiot who spent the last two hours sleeping off his drunkenness. Zoro's not ready for the racing of his heart when Sanji decides that he'll just turn and raise an eyebrow when he realizes Zoro hasn't picked a character.

"Um?" Sanji questions and Zoro's brain has the audacity to finally pay attention to his surroundings.

"Shit, sorry. Back to the game."

"Yeah, back to the game."

Strange how those words could be applied to both his dilemmas, meaning their Mario Kart game as well as their real-life fake-boyfriend-dating game.

_Back to the game._

Which means that Zoro will have to stop thinking about Sanji like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um can I just say thank you so much for all the support I’ve gotten? Especially after I published my author’s note??? You guys are honestly amazing people and I’m so glad that you’re sticking around. Muah muah, I can’t promise that I won’t disappoint but I’ll definitely try my best not to! Thanks again you Zosan fools (I am also a Zosan fool)


	13. Dipsh-It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s not like Zoro to overanalyze things. Then again ever since he’s met Sanji, a lot of things he’s done hasn’t been normal.

To be honest, Zoro never really stops feeling it.

Whenever he sees Nami, he still feels that warmth in his heart—the smile that automatically makes it onto his face. He still definitely has a crush.

But, he has to admit, there's something else growing in his heart. He doesn't feel as if he's "head-over-heels" for Nami anymore.

And that's what he's currently thinking about.

It's about the person standing next to Nami, conversing while Zoro watches them from the corner of his eye. He should be more focused on practice really, because the season's about to end and the fight for city champs is starting, but he can't keep his eyes away from the two. He's watching Sanji and Nami.

He's got complicated feelings now. After Jason's party—which ended with the two of them walking back to campus and him dropping Sanji off at his dorm room, the blond sending him off with a grin that Zoro's got stuck in his mind—Zoro sees Sanji a little differently.

A lottle.

It makes things twice as difficult because he still has a theory raging in his mind. The theory that Sanji and Nami are actually a thing. That theory makes a lot of sense in his mind, especially now when they're talking and laughing, occasionally saying something while glancing in Zoro's direction.

They could be talking about him. Maybe about how the "stop Zoro from liking my ex-girlfriend" mission is going on Sanji's side.

At the same time, they could just... not be talking about him, and Zoro's overreacting.

Fuck, he hates difficult things in life.

It actually makes him a little irritated. At Sanji, at Nami, at himself, for feeling this way. He doesn't want to be played.

The more he thinks about it, the more the thoughts of Sanji annoy him. He just can't handle the dude because of how mysterious he is, and how he makes Zoro feel things.

Practice ends with Zoro dripping in sweat, taking a towel from Nami and smiling a little when she gives him a special "good job" that she mouthed to no one else.

As Zoro's patting his face and trying to think about other things, he gets a smack on the shoulder. Zoro nearly jumps out of his skin but when he sees that it's Sanji, and he just feels that sense of annoyance from earlier coming back full force. He glares at Sanji, who at first doesn't realize that he isn't joking, and Zoro threatens to whip him over the head with his towel—just barely containing his actual anger.

"As if you could even hit me," Sanji says after his threats, his words nearly drowned out because of his teammates chattering.

"Go fuck yourself."

It's with those words that Zoro realizes he's a little angrier than he should be, and it’s not as if they’re any different from what he’d usually tell Sanji, but it’s the falter in either his expression or tone that gives him off completely.

"Wait," Sanji says, surely about to ask him what the hell was going on in his mind because of the lack of sarcasm, but Zoro just turns, shaking his head and getting dragged away by Marco and the rest of his team back inside. If he'd stayed any longer be would've probably snapped at Sanji more.

That was an asshole move, on Zoro's part. He was just overall irritated, mostly at himself, for possibly overthinking Nami and Sanji's relationship together, and because of the fact that he definitely felt different whenever he saw Sanji.

In the change room, Zoro thinks he experiences déjà vu. He also wants to punch himself.

"Seriously, why do you keep hanging out with Sanji?" Cavendish questions, furiously wiping his sweat with his mini towel.

Zoro almost doesn't want to answer—too caught up on what he'd just done, until he realizes that Cavendish is a little _too_ salty about the whole Sanji thing. He always looks personally offended whenever Sanji's around.

"And why do you care?" Zoro answers instead, pretending to be more focused on his changing.

"Well, it's just—he's—"

"Cavendish's bitter because Sanji stole his ex, a few years ago," Bartolomeo pipes up, to immediately receive a shove from Cavendish.

"That's not why!" he yells, but Zoro can tell when he's lying even through texts.

"His ex?" Zoro questions.

"Yeah, Sanji's still got a thing with her to this day. Heard it's always on and off though," Bartolomeo says casually, clearly ignoring the death glares he's receiving from Cavendish.

Zoro, on the other hand, thinks this is anything but casual. This is big news. This ex of Cavendish’s is the person Sanji recently "broke it off" with, because of some unknown reason. That reason might be because of Nami’s parents, if the girl actually is Nami, like she explained to Zoro that night.

It's weird though, because now that he really thinks about it, Sanji and Nami seem to be on good terms. Why would Sanji be on good terms with someone he just permanently broke it off with? And if the boy’s rumours were right and no one on the team had ever managed to date Nami, why was Cavendish an exception?

The more Zoro thinks about it... the more he realizes that he’d just acted like an idiot.

"Who is this girl?" Zoro asks, curiosity nearly flooding his brain.

"It's—"

"Shut! Shut up!" Cavendish yells, "I trusted you Bart, what the hell!"

He yells at Bartolomeo for a few more seconds before he leaves in a flurry, opening the door angrily. He would've surely slammed it if the door wasn't an automatically-closed door.

"Bartolomeo, who is it?" Zoro asks once more, seconds after and hoping that the man understands he’s not messing around.

Bartolomeo just gives him a look half of fear and of resilience, gesturing to the door where Cavendish just left from. "Sorry, I kind of feel bad for spilling it all. If you ask anyone it should be him."

Zoro stares at Bartolomeo for a few more seconds but the male doesn't even flinch or acknowledge it. After that, he just lets out a big sigh, whipping his towel on the bench when he pulls it off the back of his neck. The longer he has these questions in his mind, the more he becomes crazy. He rummages through his bag to grab the clothes he needs to change, holding back another sigh when he can't find his extra pair of fucking socks. He's not patient enough for this shit right now, because things aren't lining up and he just snapped at Sanji earlier for no reason and— _goddamn_...

"Wow, everyone is _dramatic_ ," Ace says.

If only he knew, Zoro thinks.

—

Their next History tutoring sessions arrives scarily fast. He hasn't talked to Sanji since the other day, but he's come to a few conclusions.

1\. He's not going to talk to Cavendish’s sensitive ass about this

2\. He'll ask Sanji about his ex (as well as Cavendish’s ex) himself

3\. If it turns out to be someone not Nami, he'll smack his head on the wall and call himself a dipshit

4\. He'll then apologize to Sanji for kind-of-sort-of ignoring him and being an ass

Zoro arrives first this time, setting up on the bean bags like they did last time.

He gets a few minutes to himself, planning out his words and how he'll cope with the possible humiliation he's going to feel.

When Sanji shows up, he's relatively silent, giving Zoro a "hey" before plopping down on the bean bag one-away from Zoro.

Zoro tries to form a sentence in his mind before speaking, but he can't really get anything out. He doesn't know what to do with a silent Sanji—and he'll probably never know.

Good thing for him, "silent Sanji" doesn't exist. At least, not for long.

The blond eventually turns on his bean bag and leans forward, staring at Zoro.

"So," he begins, tone light, "Are you over your man-period?" Sanji asks, and it takes Zoro a second to register what he said.

"What?"

"Your man period, you know, when—"

"Yeah, I get what you mean... I just... I was weirded out but—" _damn, is Zoro stumbling over his words_ "—I actually wanted to say sorry about that, by the way."

Sanji merely raises an eyebrow. Zoro’s not about to fully get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness, because he hasn't gotten to the bottom of this yet.

"I was being an ass because... I thought..." he trails off, trying to make his words seem... not stupid.

It was proving to be hard.

"You thought?" Sanji urges, and Zoro just deflates, leaning back in the bean bag.

"I thought—I think your ex might be Nami, and that makes me all sorts of angry."

Zoro doesn't stare straight at Sanji, but he thinks he can see Sanji’s eyebrows furrow—after multiples moments of silence, of course.

"Me... dating Nami," Sanji repeats.

Zoro nods, and then he chances a look at Sanji, surprised to see what he's used to seeing. Complete, and utter amusement, painted all over his face.

 _I just said something really stupid, didn't I,_ Zoro thinks, just seconds before Sanji brings a hand up to his face and starts laughing.

But instead of feeling salty that Sanji’s laughing at him, Zoro feels relieved. This sort of reaction means that he was completely wrong, which subsequently means that Sanji isn't secretly plotting all of this behind his back.

(It also means that he was just a dipshit, for no reason.)

"Every time," Sanji begins, now falling back onto his bean bag, "Every time I think that you can't get more fun, you surprise me."

Zoro tries to grin like he usually would, but the words bother him a little bit.

It's probably because he's got some weird feelings growing for Sanji, and knowing that he's just "fun" for the other male makes him feel kind of... used.

He quickly brushes the thoughts away, deciding to instead focus on his feelings of thankfulness.

"What made you think that?" Sanji asks, once he's finally stopped his little bouts of giggles (yes, giggles. There was no other name for it, Zoro decided, because the sounds were the exact definition). "Actually, I can see why. Nami and I are kind of close... and I did say that you wouldn't want to know. And then tying in the fact that I'm getting involved in your business—okay, yeah. I get it. Wait, did you think I was trying to pull some tricks on you?" Zoro nods almost sheepishly, "Fuck, that's wack."

"If it's not Nami, then who?" Zoro decides to question, wanting to finally reveal it.

"It's... her best friend, Vivi Nefertari.”

"Vivi...? And why wouldn't I want to know that?"

"Well, every time I tell someone I'm with Vivi, they visibly sneer at me. She's kind of seen as the angel of our school, so merely the thought of me with her make people want to strangle me. I'm kind of hated, if you haven't noticed. Not my problem, though," Sanji explains, and Zoro wants to groan and sigh at the same time.

Because of that dumb reasoning, he thought up all of those theories.

He feels like a huge idiot, but at the same time he kind of wants to strangle Sanji for pointing every possible sign at Nami.

Zoro mulls over the new info for a couple of minutes, trying to tie everything together in his mind. It makes a lot of sense. If only he'd looked a little deeper into it, because to be honest he doesn't pay attention to any girls other than Nami. Of course all of the interactions Zoro notices are going to be of Sanji and Nami only.

"But," Sanji cuts through the silence, sitting up from his spot and staring at Zoro seriously, "There is another reason I did all this Animede stuff. There is an ulterior motive. Don't think that there isn't, because I'm not going to lie to you, but I can't exactly tell you because they aren't my feelings to tell, so."

"Well, shit."

"Yeah, shit. Horse shit."

"I'm a dipshit," Zoro finishes.

"You fucking bet. Damn, I thought something else happened," Sanji sighed.

"Something else?" Zoro questions, "Like what?"

"Like, maybe you started having feelings or something for me," Sanji says, turning back to his books, "That would make things awkward."

"Yeah, totally," Zoro answers, and he looks down at his own books. He did not expect Sanji to say that, but now that he has, Zoro just realizes how impossible it is.

Sanji, _Sanji Black_ , would never have feelings for him.

"But hey, for what it's worth," Sanji starts, and Zoro looks up to see Sanji smiling at him. A nice and small smile, that immediately imprints itself in Zoro’s mind. "I did start messing with you because of that ulterior motive, but then it just kinda continued because I like hanging out with you."

"Oh."

Sanji laughs, "You're not that much of a dipshit."

Zoro returns the earlier smile, thinking to himself that _Sanji really isn't helping my case._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was a little late in posting this one—fell asleep too quick yesterday to do so, but here it is!! With Quarantine and everything I should be able to do it lol but my days are actually filled with anime binging. Gintama??? That shit is sooo good. If you watch Gintama please tell me because it’s just, ugh. Right up there with One Piece man. I’m also rewatching Attack on Titan, watching Ajin, and watching the fuck out of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Hit me up if you wanna talk about any of these because they are my loves lately


	14. Watch It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They basically just go on another date...?

Now that Zoro’s sure Sanji isn't dating Nami, he feels way more at ease.

At the same time, his mind is also in turmoil. Sanji told him that there is an ulterior motive, but he couldn't tell Zoro why. Zoro thinks he knows what it is though, because after all, Nami told him herself.

Nami’s currently in love with someone else, so having Zoro crush on her was probably something Sanji was trying to stop. Sanji doesn't know that Nami told him though, so he still thinks that he can't talk about it.

Zoro believes that his speculations are correct—but then again, he thought Nami and Sanji were dating, so he can't really trust his thoughts anymore.

He just continues life like this, getting lessons from Sanji, juggling sports and studies, and keeping up his social life. Things are definitely getting more difficult, now that city championships are coming up for football.

Zoro also has another dilemma. As if getting over Nami wasn't enough, he now has to sort out his feelings for Sanji.

The guy is clearly straight. Clearly uninterested. And Zoro tries to convince himself that he only likes Sanji because he took the game a little too seriously and sees him as an actual partner now.

In short, he's a little bit of a mess, and he can't really handle these fake dates with Sanji anymore.

But after everything, Zoro finds himself accepting Sanji’s invitation.

"The aquarium. Really," Zoro deadpans.

"Of course! We had to go here someday, because I can still tell that you're into Nami. You guys hung out last weekend, didn't you?" Sanji questions, and Zoro nods, paying for their tickets like the gentleman he is (not really, because prior to this, Sanji forced him to buy them—said he'd be acting like the ungrateful and cheap girlfriend). Sometimes Zoro wonders if Sanji’s doing this to merely get the perks of having a boyfriend, without really having one. Zoro paid for their last meal, too.

They enter quickly after, darkness engulfing them as the colour blue coated their visions.

Sanji goes immediately in the direction of the starfish, reading the little signs that pointed to where the sea creatures would be. Zoro follows, but Sanji’s long legs give him an advantage in getting there first.

"Man—oh man, aren't these cool?" Sanji asks, leaning in and peering through the medium-sized glass.

"Starfish? Not really."

"Oh come on," Sanji says, casting a glance at Zoro as if he can't believe him, "They always look like they're having the time of their life—and, get this, to eat their prey they literally extend their stomachs out of their mouths."

"And you like them because you wish you could do the same?" Zoro asks, still not convinced that starfish are all that cool.

"Definitely."

At Sanji’s resolution, Zoro feels the corner of his lip quirk, enjoying this different side of Sanji. He's acting completely normal, so Zoro assumes that he's completely forgotten that he was supposed to be acting ungrateful and bratty. Sanji definitely set up this "date" because he just wanted to see some sea animals.

They look at the starfish for another minute or so, the shorter pointing out which one was his favourite—and then naming it Patrick.

"Now let's go meet _Nemo_ ," Sanji says casually, as if he wasn't acting like a complete kid. Zoro rolls his eyes and falls into step beside Sanji, who's decided to walk at a normal pace.

Zoro looks at the different fish as they pass, finding them much more interesting than whatever Sanji was interested in. But, whatever, Sanji likes what he likes.

Just as Zoro finds a fish that looks weirder than any other, he feels Sanji’s hand brush against his, and then fingers slipping between his own. Sanji has a firm but somehow gentle hold on his hand, and it takes Zoro a second but he reciprocates it, his fingers resting on the top of Sanji’s hand.

Zoro is shocked, to say the least. His heart rate practically sky-rockets, and he questions why he feels like a teen on his first date. He's looking at Sanji for an explanation—because the dude hasn't said anything about _hand-holding_ —but Sanji’s too busy marvelling at the other fish.

"There it is," Sanji says, stopping the two of them. The clownfish are in a section of their own, furthest down in this area. There are less people over here.

Zoro looks at the fish, willing his hands not to sweat because he is not about to be _nervous_ because of simple hand-holding.

But when he reminds himself once more that it's Sanji’s hand he's holding, Zoro has to look the other way and calm himself.

"What's wrong with you?" Sanji suddenly asks, and when Zoro turns back to look at him, he probably has a blush on his face. He sort of hates it because this is so uncharacteristic of him, but _dammit, how else was he supposed to react?_ Sanji, however, doesn't notice and Zoro thanks the blue lighting. He does seem to understand why Zoro’s quiet though. "Oh, if it's about the hand holding, it's fine. This is what boyfriends and girlfriends do, right?" He lifts up their hands in between them, and gives Zoro a grin. "Don't tell me you're getting nervous, now. Never held hands?"

"Of course I have," Zoro says, and it's true. This isn't his first time holding someone's hand. It doesn't change the fact that Zoro’s combusting on the inside.

"Oh yeah?" Sanji questions, "Why do I get the feeling you're lying?" Sanji squeezes Zoro’s hand just to tease him, "How about kissing?" he continues to ask, and then steps closer.

 _No, no, no, thank you,_ Zoro practically yells in his mind, holding back every nerve in his body telling him to run away before he explodes into flames. He holds his ground, determined to give Sanji the impression that he knows what he's doing. He doesn’t like to lose.

He has, in fact, kissed someone before. The first time had been on a whim, in high school. He actually kissed that person more than once, but they broke things off before it became anything serious. And he's had previous girlfriends before—the last one ended in flames and sadness—so kissing wasn't really a problem to him. Zoro would even say that he's pretty good at it.

Zoro’s just thinking about these things to ignore the fact that Sanji’s closer than ever.

Sanji lets go of Zoro’s hand when the distance makes it awkward, his fingers instead sliding up Zoro’s arm, hand finishing on the back of Zoro’s neck. They’re nearly the same height so it’s easy for Sanji to lean in, his head finding its place nearly on Zoro’s shoulder, mouth now next to his ear.

Zoro is, frankly, speechless.

No wonder people called Sanji the lady killer, back when he didn’t have a girlfriend yet.

"And you were expecting to make me fall with this inexperience?" Sanji asks, his voice lower than Zoro had ever heard it.

Zoro grits his teeth because, well, shit, why does Sanji have to use that voice?

But he's not about to be one-upped now. He's been seen as an idiot for far too long.

He forces himself out of his stupor to do something to get back at Sanji, letting his instincts guide him instead of his brain (that thing's been useless for quite a while now).

Zoro’s hands find their way onto Sanji’s hips, pulling him closer and smirking when Sanji’s balance falters, forcing him to grab onto Zoro.

"If you really think I'm inexperienced," Zoro begins, lowering his own voice to match Sanji’s. His mouth is more at Sanji’s neck than it is at his ear. "How about we test that out?"

Sanji chuckles almost forcibly, pulling away from Zoro faster than what was natural.

"Alright, don't get your panties in a twist—I believe you," he says, turning away.

The whole thing happens a little fast, which is a little suspicious.

Zoro raises an eyebrow, and when he changes his position to get a good look at Sanji’s face, he sees the expression he expected was on his own face minutes ago, when Sanji first grabbed his hand.

Is Sanji _flustered_?

Zoro now wishes that there was normal lighting in here, and that Sanji would stop pretending to look at the clownfish and just stare at him in the face. He swears there's a blush on Sanji’s face. He'll bet his life on it.

Because Sanji... seems embarrassed.

No, he _is_.

And for some reason, the thought that Zoro managed to make _Sanji_ so flustered—outgoing and shameless bastard he is—brings a smile on his face that he covers with the back of his hand.

Zoro has to control his feelings.

But he doesn't really want to when they bring out reactions like these from Sanji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who didn’t update again? Me. I don’t know, this quarantine is getting to me ahhh I spend a lot of time just sleeping. Anyway for that reason I am doing a double update today :) Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a comment!


	15. It Don’t Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Zoro’s got it bad.

The rest of their aquarium date is a success, in Zoro’s terms. Nothing awkward happens between the two of them, unless you count when Sanji decided to show his bratty-ungrateful-girlfriend side.

It happens when they're at the little store near the exit, which sold things like little fish keychain or snacks and plushies. Sanji asked him to buy something for him, Zoro did, but then Sanji would complain that it wasn't actually the one he wanted. He'd make Zoro return it and buy a different one, always a little more expensive.

(Where is Zoro getting this money, as a college student? His parents love him.)

What started off as a little, faceless fishy-cracker-looking keychain, somehow turned into this weirdly extravagant starfish pin. It was made of some special metals or whatever, to stop rusting. There was also a pearl in the middle, with a choice of different colours to signify different things.

Sanji picked the blue one. It means: the owner will find true love.

Zoro thinks that's bullshit, because— _come on_ —they're just pearls, but his "Girlfriend Sanji" was apparently very convinced.

Sanji left the store with that starfish pin, as well as a clownfish plush that had somehow also taken money away from Zoro’s allowance.

Zoro doesn't really mind it, though.

Not that he's going to tell Sanji that.

"You wanna go for dinner now?" Sanji questions, once they've walked through the aquarium doors. It's now just them outside in the nearly chilly breeze, sunset already on its way because of the changing seasons.

Zoro rolls his eyes at Sanji’s words. "Let me guess. I'm paying?"

Sanji laughs, hugs his plush closer to himself before saying, "Nah, we'll go just as us. My girlfriend-self won't take any more money from you today."

"You little fucker," Zoro laughs, "So it was all a trick to make me use my money on you,"

Sanji scoffs and jumps down the few stone stairs, making it down before Zoro. All the while, he's justifying himself. "No, it's totally for your benefit."

"Nice lie," Zoro follows Sanji down, "This didn't help me whatsoever—hasn't been helping me at all."

"So you're saying your feelings for Nami have totally, 100% stayed the same?" Sanji questions, turning to look at Zoro inquisitively.

"Well—no. It's... they're a little less intense," he reveals.

"See," Sanji says happily, continuing their treck to the closest bus stop, "I'm amazing, helping you get over her like this."

Zoro has to admit, the self-compliments were deserved. After all, it is because of Sanji that he's getting over Nami, bit by bit. 

His interests are slowly changing.

"But seriously, though," Sanji starts again, "Dinner's my treat."

Zoro stares at the side of Sanji’s face; smiles a little. "Thank God."

—

At school, Zoro doesn't see much of the Sanji he sees out of school. He's not like he is at parties, and nor is he like how he is at aquariums or dinners. He's more of the Sanji that Cavendish hates, overflowing with confidence and always retorting to insults with his own.

The Sanji at school is the Sanji everyone else knows, and Zoro likes to think that only he knows how different the guy could be in varying situations.

"One more lap!" his coach calls, voice booming over the wind, "The city champs are coming up! Are we going to win with this shitty stamina?!"

Zoro wants to laugh when he catches a glimpse of Nami’s reaction to his coach's profanities, receiving the little boost he needed to finish this last round. His muscles are screaming but who is he to care? The coach was right, and the most important part of the season was coming up.

Their uni's good at sports, and Zoro believes that his team's quite special, too. He has no doubt that they're going to do great this season, as they did last year. Even so, he feels a little afraid, perhaps even anxious for the upcoming days.

He's kind of the team leader, being the quarterback and all. If he fucks himself up the entire team's fucked.

Well, not true. He does trust in his replacement, his trusty buddy Dalton. If he actually does mess up horrendously or somehow breaks himself, he knows Dalton will pull through somehow. He's just a little controlling when it comes to sports, and when he's not on the field he feels as if things are going to mess up.

Zoro finally reaches the end, huffing and panting like the rest of his teammates. They walk it off and finish the practice in good spirits after a pep talk for next week's first game, starting their locker room shenanigans as usual.

Reiner has been hollering for the showers for the past five minutes, but no one listens because it's truly a "first come first serve" life in the locker rooms. Marco and Ace are whipping each other with their towels while Levi dresses himself efficiently. Cavendish is still standing in his sweaty clothes because he's too lazy to get out of them.

Yeah, Zoro trusts these idiots. He doesn't really know why, though, and he kind of regrets his kindness when Ace whips him on the ass.

"Hurry up in the damn showers!" Reiner yells, towel held in front of him.

"What are you doing after this to be in such a rush?" Levi questions, still taking his time.

"My boyfriend's waiting for me."

Zoro nearly bangs his face on his open locker door, from how fast he whipped over to look at Reiner.

"Boyfriend?" Cavendish questions first.

Reiner shrugs. "Yeah, I mean, I swing both ways."

 _Why did I not know this?_ Zoro questions himself, before realizing that—to be honest—he's not that close to any of these guys. He shares some classes and plays some sports with them, eats lunch with them sometimes, but all they usually talk about is classes, girls, sports, and... girls.

Not guys, excluding Cavendish’s hate for Sanji.

"Well, I knew that but I didn't hear about this new boy of yours," Cavendish says.

"It's Bertholdt."

"What's it like, dating another dude?" Franky questions from the other side of the room.

"What—you're interested in someone?" Eren jokingly asks, to which Franky scoffs, reminding them of his lovely girlfriend Robin.

"It's not at all different to having a girlfriend. Maybe they don't smell like flowers or whatever, but some dudes also like flowers so. It's the same," Reiner answers, and he's got everyone's attention on him. "Sex is a little different though—"

Cavendish groans, "Please, let's not talk about this in a room full of dudes."

The team bursts out in laughter, meanwhile Zoro wonders what it's like to actually have a boyfriend.

Zoro’s comfortable with the thought of liking dudes because... yeah, it happens. Life happens, and someone might end up liking the same sex, but dating's a whole other story. He doesn't know how it works, doesn't know if dudes like the same gifts as girls, and how he'd react to stuff when it came to intimacy.

Maybe it is exactly the same as Reiner said (not "doing the do", he means the other stuff).

But hasn't Zoro kind of... experienced dating a dude, though? With Sanji.

Zoro shakes his head. No, he tells himself, because those were all for the sake of either joking around or seriously getting over someone.

Bartolomeo finally leaves one of the shower stalls, and Reiner swoops in to finish cleaning up, promptly ending the discussion.

While Zoro’s pulling on his clothes after wiping himself off, Zoro admits—even though it makes no sense—that he's jealous of Reiner.

He wishes he could be open about his feelings like that.

—

Zoro runs into Trafalgar Law as he's on his way back to his dorm room, greeting the male as they wait for the elevator. Zoro’s way too lazy to take the stairs after such a long practice, even if the elevator took approximately four years to come back down from the top floor.

"You're Sanji’s friend, aren't you?" Law questions, and Zoro’s surprised the guy even started a conversation.

"Yeah, basically," he replies, and then suddenly remembers what Sanji said at the beginning. "Does he get his thirty dollars now?"

"Thirty dollars?" Law questions.

"Yeah, you dared him to become my friend or—something..." Zoro trails off, realizing that ah, that was probably a lie. Sanji revealed to him not long ago that he approached Zoro for a different reason, so the whole dare thing at the beginning was probably just a cover-up.

Kind of sucks that he was lied to right in the face, but who cares about it now?

"Sometimes Sanji says stuff he really doesn't mean," Law states, and when Zoro turns his head to look at him, the other dude is staring at the floor numbers, "Or stuff that make zero sense. He's smart and he knows it, but sometimes it gets to his mind. Makes him do dumb things in return."

Damn, Zoro thinks. Law was spitting straight wisdom.

Or maybe he's just talking bad about his friend.

One or the other.

The elevator finally stops on the main floor and the two enter, only for Law to leave on the second floor, making Zoro flabbergasted. He isn't necessarily any better, exiting on the third floor out of four, but in his defence, that's a whole extra flight of stairs compared to Law’s.

He walks down the hallway and notices someone at his door. It's Sanji, of course, holding...

"No."

"It's too late, you're my drinking buddy," Sanji states, shrugging, "Can't deny what the gods have ordered."

"There has been no order, so get that alcohol out of my face," Zoro commanded, pulling his keys out of his bag, "And I think my roommate is in."

He's not, Zoro notices a few seconds later. Well, great, there goes Escape Route n.1.

Does he even have any other escape routes?

It’s not that he hates drinking—no, not at all. Probably the opposite of that. It’s just that he knows Sanji is the lightest lightweight he’s ever known, and his chaotic-ness triples when he’s drunk.

Zoro later figures out that no, he does not have any other escape routes. He should've known anyway, considering Sanji’s basically got him wrapped around his finger.

It's like Sanji’s actually his boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I suck and definitely didn’t do a double update a few days ago. I’m not sure why but like whenever I’m about to publish a chapter I get nervous. Because idk, whenever I publish chapters there could be plot mistakes that now can never be fixed, you get my gist? It’s a struggle I’ve had for a while and now it’s getting worse aha. Whatever, I hope you liked it and I’m sorry! I’ll try to put out another today :)


	16. Possibil-It-y

"And that completes our review for the next quiz," Sanji finishes, closing the textbook with a smack.

Zoro lets out a loud sigh, leaning back in exhaustion. He was elated a few hours before this; having come back from the first win of their championships. Sadly, he had to come straight to some tutoring with Sanji—and then be reminded that there's a quiz a few days from now.

Sanji places a hand on his own stomach, smacks it a few times, and says that he's hungry.

Zoro agrees, closing his eyes to rest for a few seconds.

Sanji starts talking about going to a food stand or something, and Zoro proceeds to tell him that he really doesn't care where they go.

"Um, hey," an unfamiliar voice interrupts them, and Zoro opens his eyes to see a girl standing in front of them. She's only staring at Zoro.

"What's up?" Zoro answers, as he would with any stranger. He sits up straighter on the bean bag.

"I was wondering if I could, uh, get your Snap," she states, crouching down so that she's face to face with Zoro, though still a meter or so away. "I was at the game and I didn't manage to catch you in time."

"Oh," Zoro answers, pulling out his phone. It's not uncommon for Zoro to be approached by people of the opposite gender, and he doesn't really care about his Snapchat anyways so the girls always end up giddy. They eventually all realize that Zoro never answers his Snapchat because he hates doing the entire "streaks" and meaningless pictures, and promptly give up, thinking that Zoro’s ignoring them.

He's not. He's just too lazy to take pictures, and there's no meaning in sending just pictures anyway.

While Zoro’s letting the girl use his QR code and while she talks about how she found an interest in Zoro, he glances over at Sanji to see his reaction—to see if, maybe, this bothered him at all.

Sanji really doesn't care.

He's mumbling something about food, putting away his books and not caring for the situation in front of him.

"Thanks!" she says, handing Zoro back his phone, "I'll talk to you later!"

Zoro just nods, giving her a smile. He likes people like these more, instead of the ones that come with their friends and scream whenever Zoro glances over at them. They'd ask for his snap and whisper excitingly between each other, and when Zoro hands the phone back to them they'd stumble over words.

He likes people who are more... forward. Like Nami, who wasn't intimidated by him in the slightest, and merely asked for notes.

Or Sanji, who's never afraid of anything.

Zoro furrows his eyebrows in thought, wondering what it'd be like if Sanji was a girl. Would he have immediately fallen head over heels for Sanji just like he had for Nami? Or would it be the same slow and confusing rise in feelings?

"Oi," Sanji snaps in Zoro’s face, "Let's go, my legs feel numb."

"I don't want to move anymore."

"Well jeez Zoro, nobody asked for your opinion," Sanji retorts, pulling his backpack strap over his right shoulder.

Zoro laughs, deciding that he should get a move on. He stands up and grabs all of his stuff, the two of them finally on their way to get food.

"Sometimes I forget that you're actually popular," Sanji states on their way out of the library.

"Yeah."

"Actually, I'm popular too, but just not in that way."

"For some reason, everyone hates you," Zoro says, looking over at Sanji, insinuating that he wants an answer to that.

"I mean," Sanji chuckles, "Who wouldn't?"

"I don't," Zoro mentions— _shit_ , he immediately thinks, realizing that he was acting totally different. He'd normally say that he hates Sanji and end it there. To recover, he adds: "You're still fucking annoying, but not to the point of me hating you, I guess."

Sanji just laughs at that.

Now that Zoro thinks about it, when _did_ he stop hating Sanji? At the beginning, Sanji was a nuisance who tried to involve himself in Zoro’s life, and had clichéd fashion sense and no brain.

 _Now look at where I am,_ Zoro almost scoffs to himself. _I've got some messed up feelings for this idiot._

Zoro doesn't even know for sure whether he actually likes Sanji or not yet. Does he really like him more than a friend? Does he have a crush on him? Would he really date Sanji?

Well, he knows the answer to that last one.

"I've got a mean character, or so I'm told," Sanji continues, "A lot of people don't like how I do life. And since my family are... pretty widely known in the city, they think that means something about me.”

When Zoro stares at Sanji, he thinks that—perhaps, Sanji’s actually bothered that people dislike him. Who wouldn't be?

"I'm sure that—" _man, I should just shut up_ "—If people really got to know you, they probably wouldn't hate you." Zoro’s bad at sentimental talk, but for some reason he didn't want to just leave it like that. "You just do some weird things. Law says you're too smart for your own good."

"Well aren't you acting nice? Are you hoping that I'd pay for the food?" Sanji questions, and Zoro snorts in response.

"If I was hoping for that, I'd just tell you."

The blond shrugs, and a few steps later he says: "Thanks, though."

—

The second game of the championships is a success.

Of course, it's still only the second game, but Zoro’s still contented. He also did his History quiz that morning, and he feels as if he answered most of the questions right.

There was one more game to determine semi-finalists, and then another to determine finalists. Zoro’s quite sure they'd make it to the finals, but they've only ever won the whole thing once, two years ago.

"Celebration!" Cavendish yells, lifting up his cup of beer.

Truthfully, Zoro feels as if they shouldn't be celebrating right now, but whatever floats his team's boat. The next game was three days from now, so at least the hangover won't affect any of their playing. Even the coach is here.

They're all sitting at a table near the edge of the little outdoorsy tent restaurant, but it's usually what happens before they all disperse and go find fun somewhere else on the streets. It’s late, if Zoro could guess a time he’d say 7 or 8 PM, and the sky is already darkening as they speak. They all do the cheers and down a few gulps of beer, including Zoro. He stares over at Nami to see if she's also celebrating, and unsurprisingly, she is.

When she catches Zoro’s stare, she gives him a smile. "You gotta let go once in a while, am I right?"

Zoro returns the smile and tips back his cup at the same time as Nami.

The night goes on, and the remaining people there are only Zoro, Nami, and the coach. They've gone through a plate of fried chicken and grilled pork, and are working through a plate of fruits. The breeze outside has gotten a little more chilly but the soju—and alcohol in general—burn them up.

Nami drunk is the most amusing thing Zoro’s witnessed, because she just gets more aggressive and competitive. She says random things too, and seems a little more emotional than usual. At least she's not the "immediate crying" type of drinker.

"Ya know, Zoro," the coach starts, "You're a good boy, and a good player. I have a feeling you'll lead us to victory this year."

Zoro smiles at his coach. The guy gets more like a cliché father when he's drunk, it seems. "Thanks, and I hope I do."

Zoro, obviously, is barely drunk. His alcohol tolerance is just that good. He's also avoiding drinking too much, so that he can remember everything and not do stupid things.

"That's all I needed to say, tonight," the coach states, and then he stumbles while standing up. Zoro feels his eye twitch, because okay, he could've sat here alone with Nami this entire time, but the coach decided to take an hour to say those few words.

At least he's leaving now.

With the coach gone, Zoro just munched on more snacks, enjoying Nami’s company as she started talking about how her day went.

Part-way through their conversation, Nami stands up and sits herself down on the plastic stool next to Zoro, instead of where she sat across from Zoro before. Zoro doesn't think much about it, continuing with his conversation with Nami. They were talking about possible teams they'd verse next.

"Actually, we already know that the semi-finals are going to be held at our field. Sanji will be there as a worker too, you know," Nami states, "Since he's one of the volunteer nurses he'll be out there in case something happens."

"That's cool," Zoro says. He almost forgot that Sanji was gonna be a nurse as a permanent job.

"I thought you'd be happier. You guys seem like close friends..."

"Yeah I guess, but it's not like anything will be entirely different with Sanji watching." Zoro’s kind of lying right now, because he knows he'll be able to feel Sanji’s stare on him during the game, but Nami didn't need to know that.

"Thought you'd feel lonely without him..." she trails off, and Zoro hopes the conversation about Sanji will end there. It's a little strange, talking about Sanji with Nami. He could actually use this chance—while Nami’s drunk and a lot more free-spirited—to ask what Sanji’s motives for befriending him could possibly be.

But he's probably not going to.

A part of him still thinks it’s wrong to get info from unsuspecting drunk people, even if the info won’t necessarily hurt someone.

"You know..." Nami begins, "I've actually been very lonely lately," she confesses, and Zoro glances at her to gauge her expression. She seems sombre. "My best friend's always wanting alone time to deal with her own problems, and the person I like is just... just..."

"It's okay," Zoro offers her a smiles to try to comfort her, "You'll find someone one day. Maybe your circumstances with this person right now will change, and you'll be able to become a real couple."

He wonders why talking like this with Nami is easy, but when it comes to Sanji, he's literally stumbling over his words to comfort him.

Nami smiles to herself, but it looks more bittersweet than anything. "You're here though," she mentions, "When everyone else isn't."

"That's 'cause you're great," Zoro shrugs, playing it off as a "good friend" sort of vibe.

"You're so nice and..." Nami trails off, and Zoro imagines there are gears turning in her mind, "Even though I know it'll happen someday, right now I still wish that I could... be with someone."

She stops for a few moments, gaze kept on the tabletop, unmoving. Zoro wonders what's going on.

"Nami...?"

At the sound of Zoro’s voice, she takes another drink from her cup and nearly slams it on the table, abruptly turning to look at Zoro and startling him. It makes him seem as if he's just been caught staring. He kind of has been caught, but it's not like they really care in this situation.

"Zoro... aren't you—" her right hand comes up from where it was resting in her own lap to sit on Zoro’s left knee, but not before balling and un-balling from a fist. "Aren't you lonely, too?"

"I guess," Zoro answers warily, a little curious about the tone of Nami’s voice.

"What if we stopped being lonely together?"

Stop being lonely... together?

 _She doesn't mean._.. Zoro usually isn't so dense, but he has to make sure this isn't a joke. He has to analyze literally everything before coming to conclusions.

He stares into Nami’s eyes for another couple of seconds, as Nami speaks up again.

"We're both single—I mean, I don't think you've had a girlfriend and you haven't had one since I've met you, and..."

She's completely serious right now. Her eyes are almost pleading; desperate for Zoro to understand and... Wow.

"I haven't had a boyfriend in forever. Don't you think we could—" she stops herself, hoping for Zoro to fill in the lines himself.

But he won't, because he's afraid he's taking this whole situation wrong.

"We could what?" Zoro asks, his voice low and almost cautious.

"For tonight, what if we just... What if we spent the night together?"

Together.

 _Together_ , together.

Zoro’s brain is on the verge of combusting.

Nami. _The_ Nami, girl of his dreams. The girl he had Sanji pretend to be, to either get with or get over. She was asking him for a night.

Shit. Fuck.

Zoro doesn't think he's ever thought this hard.

There's a possibility that tonight could awaken some feelings in Nami, or, hell, this night could just be an unforgettable and blissful moment in his life. It's tempting—it's so damn tempting, especially with Nami staring at him with a face like this; long eyelashes and pink lips, pleading eyes.

This is the girl he'd been pining over for the past whoever-knows-how-long. She's beautiful, and so kind, and he's actually thought of this before but—

She's _drunk_.

"I'll be waiting for you out there. I'll pay for the meal," Nami says, and Zoro knows that she thinks his silence means he's accepting. Because goddamn, who'd deny?

But the way she fumbles to take out her wallet just reminds Zoro even more. Her cheeks aren't flushed because she's embarrassed or in love, it's because she's had way too much to drink.

When she stands, Zoro grabs her wrist to stop her.

"No, Nami, I..." he mumbles, mind in complete turmoil.

"What?" she questions, voice soft.

"I can't..."

"Zoro—you're one of my closest friends, you're the only one I'd ever ask—"

"Friends don't sleep with each other, Nami..."

She bites her lip and she actually looks like she's been rejected by her one true love, and she tries one last time—which, to be honest, might've broken Zoro’s resolve.

"You don't want to?"

It might've, but something else is stopping him from accepting Nami’s proposition. The thought of _someone_ else.

"I don't want to," Zoro finishes, and he lets go of Nami’s wrist and turns to get to the front. "You're drunk, let's get you home. I'll pay."

Who would've thought that Zoro—the same Zoro from a few months ago, who would've jumped at a chance to even hang out with Nami—was currently rejecting Nami. He was currently walking away from Nami, who stood there like a lost soul.

And it's because of some idiot who told him he'd help Zoro get over her.

...Has he really gotten over Nami? Unsure.

He does, however, know that there's definitely someone else in his heart right now.

Fucking Animede.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yOIKE. Who expected that??  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one!


	17. It’s Not, Of Course

The walk home with Nami is possibly the most suffocating thing Zoro’s experienced. 

He just didn't have it in him to make her walk back to her dorm building alone, mostly when she was drunk enough to ask Zoro to... yeah. Her dorm is near Zoro’s, either way. Just a bit further.

All of her steps are a little uneven and Zoro would think that she's super out of it, but apparently, she's got enough of a conscious to know that he doesn't really want to talk right now. She's probably sobered up a little, too. 

With his hands in his pockets, Zoro walks while staring at the ground, thinking about everything that's happened in the past few minutes. 

He really just rejected Nami. 

See, the thing is, he didn't reject a love confession. (He would never reject a love confession from Nami, at this moment in time.) He rejected a weird, one-night-stand suggestion between friends. 

And he probably wouldn't have, if she wasn't drunk. He tells himself that that's 90 percent of the reason why he rejected Nami. The other 10 percent he can just forget he ever thought about. 

He ruffles his hair in frustration, staring up at the sky as if it can give him an answer for what to do now. He can see his dorm on their right, which means only another few minutes until they get to Nami’s. He wants to apologize or something, because even if he doesn't want to talk about it, it's itching like a damn mosquito bite. 

"Ah," a voice sounds from in front of them. 

Zoro immediately looks back down, having to squint a little to see who it is. Though he does recognize the voice, he really hopes it isn't the person he thinks it is—and lighting makes it hard, being behind the figure in question. 

Yeah—but no.

It's Sanji. Zoro should've expected this. Sanji lives at the same dorm, and he's basically a night dweller.

Zoro wants to shield his face and walk past him, so that he can finally get his peace of mind tonight—in bed, alone, after having a nice long shower. 

"Sanji," Nami greets, in a surprisingly normal voice. 

"What are my two best buddies doing out tonight?" Sanji questions conversationally, approaching them. He seems to have just left the entrance of their dorm and turned the corner at the hedges. 

When Sanji’s close enough to them and Zoro finally figures out what to say, the shorter man brings a hand up to his nose, plugging it.

"Jeez, you guys smell like alcohol. I thought _I_ was your drinking buddy, Zoro," Sanji fake pouts, and then he eventually drops his hand when he sees the "stop-joking-around" look on Zoro’s face. 

Zoro’s also sending his strongest "stop talking, right now" signals, but he isn't so sure if Sanji’s picking them up.

"What were you guys drinking for?" he asks, and Zoro figures out with dismay that Sanji really didn't read emotions correctly. Can't he see that him and Nami are wallowing in shame and humiliation right now?

"Aha, just our second win for the championships," Nami supplies, seeming more and more herself as the time passes. 

Zoro just lowers his head and closes his eyes for a second, letting out a breath because of how weird this has to be. He just wants to be alone with his thoughts right now. 

"That's cool, I'm gonna keep going my own way so," Sanji surprisingly says, but when Zoro looks back up to see Sanji’s face, he catches the signal Sanji’s sending. His eyes tell Zoro that he's probably going to be waiting for Zoro to come back, and that he's going to have to spill. "See ya."

Sanji walks away and Nami and Zoro accidentally catch each other's eyes, the two of them mentally sighing as they continue on their way.

—

Their walk ends with no talk at all, and it's when Zoro’s walking back to his dorm that he finally gets some time alone. 

He's thinking about what to tell Sanji when he gets back, because he's sure the guy's camping out at the entrance like a hoodlum. The number of times Sanji does that is actually concerning.

Does he tell Sanji the whole thing? Or does he just lie and tell Sanji that he's facing the same dilemmas as usual?

Zoro’s not sure how much he wants Sanji to know, because he's not really his relationship therapist anymore. The dude's part of his problems.

Zoro barely constructs a few sentences in his mind and he already reaches his place, finding the expected person leaning against the wall. He's really disappointed that Sanji’s actually waiting for him there. Zoro was hoping to be wrong. 

"That's nasty, you know," Zoro speaks, walking past Sanji and through the doors. 

"Nasty's my middle name."

Zoro rolls his eyes and Sanji follows right behind. 

"How do we run into each other so much?" Zoro asks, and Sanji immediately answers.

"Well, I actually did this on purpose. Figured out you weren't at your room and I was bored so I went out looking for you," he explains, and Zoro nods tiredly.

The two of them almost reach the stairs, and they'd have gone back to Zoro’s room had he not stopped. 

"Actually, I just remembered that my roommate is probably in now, so maybe we can have this talk later." 

That's a flat out lie. He had no idea if Ace was in or not. I mean, he's probably there, but he could be at his girlfriend's place, Zoro reasons.

Sanji hums, thinks about it for a few seconds, and then turns around. 

"I mean he wasn't there earlier and he probably isn't there now, but what if you just follow me? I know a chill place."

Zoro decides that okay, he'll just get this over with quickly and head back to his room. He'll tell Sanji a few lies and leave it at that. 

A minute or so later, Sanji points and says, "There is it."

"The dorm's parking lot?" Zoro questions. Sanji nods. "Fucking great. What a 'chill' place."

"Hey, anything's chill if you know what to do with it." 

They walk a bit further, and then down the barely lit aisle of cars. All of a sudden, Sanji’s hopping onto one of the car's hoods.

"What the hell, Sanji," Zoro hisses, watching as Sanji rearranges himself to sit cross-legged. "Is that even your car?" 

"Nope. But it's Bartolomeo’s, and his alarm shit's broken so," Sanji shrugs, "It's a piece of trash anyway."

Zoro admits that it is just a hunk of metal at this point, but Sanji makes it seem completely normal to sit on other people's cars. He even somehow makes it seem comfortable, but maybe that's just because he's got thick sweatpants on that'll shield his skin from the cold and hard metal.

The guy even pats the spot next to him—rather harshly so, because it makes a thunking sound. 

Zoro has to calm himself, maybe say a prayer or two, and then he maneuvers himself next to Sanji somehow. He's barely sitting on it, more like leaning on it because he's afraid his weight will just destroy the thing. Zoro figures out that it's the wrong move when the car actually fucking _moves_ , which makes Sanji choke on laughter. 

"Pretty sure the brakes are fucked up too. It's also light as a feather so, yeah. You probably shouldn't lean against it so hard." 

"I might as well goddamn stand," Zoro says, exasperated.

"No! Sit down, I swear it's not that bad, even if we'll have to squish a little." 

Zoro complies just to get it over with, climbing on like he's the awkward nerd that's never sat on something cool-ly in his life. He's in the most uncomfortable position in his life, his legs in an awkward state between crossed and up to his chest, arms wrapped around the limbs to keep them in place. He decides to stay like that.

"So," Sanji begins, "What was that desolate atmosphere around you and Nami about?" 

"Fancy words," Zoro mutters, before continuing to say, "Nothing, really. It's just the usual shit with me pining after her, and her catching onto my mood."

"Bullshit."

Zoro’s now graduated to just sitting with his thighs as close to his torso as possible for his non-flexible ass, his head lowering as he thinks about what to say.

He's never been good at keeping things from Sanji.

It's been like that since day one.

The thoughts actually bring him back to the first time they really talked, at one of the lesser-used entrances for the uni. And then they lead him to thought about the nurse office where he told Sanji he liked Nami, and then all the football field moments. Zoro doesn't realize he's lost himself in thought until Sanji speaks up.

"Well... If you actually don't wanna talk about it I could talk about my asshead of a science partner." 

"The fuck is this?" Zoro mumbles, his voice quiet because of the fact that they're sitting on Bartolomeo’s car, "Sanji? Giving up on a chance for info?" 

"Even I can be nice sometimes."

"Sure."

"But no, I was lying. I was trying to seem nice so that I could get the info out of you."

"Figures."

Zoro sighs, uncurling himself from the ball he's made of himself and actually managing to let his legs hang down without dying. He leans back on his hands, his skin meeting the rough surface of the hood. 

He purses his lips and stares at the sky in the distance, finally deciding that there was no use keeping it a secret anyway. "Nami wanted to have sex with me." 

Though Zoro’s been avoiding calling it "sex", that's what it was, and he knew Sanji was going to bother him until he flat out said what it was. So he saved time, basically.

"Damn," Sanji whispers, and Zoro agrees. "Why didn't she just ask me? I could have easily—"

"Stop—right there," Zoro orders, feeling an actual migraine starting, "I don't want to have to think about you and Nami ever again."

Sanji’s silent for a few seconds, before he asks: "So you said no?"

"Of course I said no!" Zoro nearly exclaims, "I couldn't have said yes. She was drunk, I'd be taking advantage of her, I still really like her and then the morning after I'll feel like killing myself." 

Sanji smiles at him and gives him a half-hearted pat on the shoulder. "I'm glad you said no."

"Huh?" 

"If you didn't, I'd have to be beating you up right now," Sanji shrugs, and Zoro immediately replies with "ah, right", because he totally thought that Sanji was glad for other reasons. "Really, though. Don't beat yourself up. You're trying to get over her right now and, well, that was the right choice."

"It's just—" Zoro subconsciously begins, suddenly feeling like he wanted to pour out all of his thoughts. Instead he sighs, “Why does this have to be so hard.”

"I dunno, maybe cause you like someone who's—totally not interested?" Sanji questions, and he sounds as if he was about to say something different right in the middle of it. 

"But is she really?" he glances at Sanji, trying to make him understand, "She literally asked me to do it with her. When people are drunk don't they do things they actually kinda want to do?" 

"I've slept with a dude by accident, Zoro. It's not pretty." 

"Oh," Zoro looks away, and then he sighs again. "Whatever. Fuck, whatever. I'm done with this." 

He gets up to leave, resisting the urge to run his hand over his face because of how dirty they both felt. He starts to walk back to the entrance of the dorm, quite sure that the conversation's over. 

It's not, of course.

"Hey," Sanji calls, and Zoro turns, hands in his pockets. 

Sanji jumps off the beat up car and goes up to Zoro, reaching into the pocket of his hoodie to grab something. He strangely looks cute even like this, and Zoro’s not going to deny it anymore. Sanji’s cute, okay? In a weird way. Even when he's in sweats and a sweater. Zoro wonders how _he_ looks right now, after coming back from an alcohol-filled celebration.

The blond eventually holds his hand out and Zoro’s wary, but he takes his own hand out of his pocket to place his palm under Sanji’s fist.

Sanji lets an item drop in Zoro’s hand, which immediately glints under the little lighting coming from the dorm building. Once it's in Zoro’s grasp, Sanji overturns his own hand and opens it to show the same object in his palm.

It's the starfish pin. The blue-pearled one, to be exact.

"I actually went back to the aquarium this morning, because I decided that we both needed one." 

Zoro stares at it for a few seconds, and then he looks up at Sanji, a little unbelieving that this is happening.

"To find true love, ya'know? The superstitious bullshit you don't really believe." Sanji smiles a little at the starfish pin in his hand, and Zoro closes his fist over his own pin. 

For some reason, this makes Zoro’s mood a hundred times better.

No—a thousand times better. 

"It's really kind of ugly, but at this rate, I'll have to believe in anything and everything," Zoro states, transporting the little object to his pants pockets. 

"Oi, it may be ugly, but if it works it's the prettiest thing to me. It's also weirdly expensive, so it's got to work, am I right?" 

Zoro shrugs, and the two of them start making their way back inside the dorm, together this time. The bad feelings inside of Zoro are officially gone.

"If it doesn't work, I want a refund," Zoro says, only to get a shove on the shoulder from Sanji.

"It said they don't accept refunds, on the receipt."

"Are you serious?"

"As serious as the price of these."

"I guess we've been scammed."

"...You never know. They could actually work."

Sanji’s right. Maybe it will actually work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been working on that Zosan mafia au for some time now and :3333 I’m like halfway through it and so excited to publish it when it’s done ahhh  
> Anyway sorry I’ve been gone for a few days, but I hope you liked this! Zosan being bros as usual :)


	18. Admit It!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recap because it’s been long: Nami tried to sleep with Zoro, Zoro refused, Zoro talked to Sanji about it in the parking lot and they have a bro-mantic moment. Now it’s the next day :)

_Awkward_.

You know, Zoro’s starting to hate that word. 

It seems that ever since Sanji entered his life, he's never gone a day without feeling awkward once. 

Though it usually involves Sanji himself, the "awkward" this time comes from Nami. 

So, of course, practice is weird. 

Zoro avoids looking off to the side, because he's sure that he'll catch Nami’s eye and make things even weirder. The entire day at school was alright because he only had one class with Nami as usual, but now that he's in an environment where Nami has to watch him, it makes him nervous.

He's a little rigid the entire hour, and the coach and even some of his teammates realize this. It gets to the point where the coach even pulls him off to the side to ask him if he's alright. 

"Are you good? If it's something weird going on, you should tell me so we can solve it before the game," he says, hands on each of Zoro’s shoulders.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," Zoro lies, knowing that he could never tell his coach what happened between Nami and him. There's just no point—what would the coach even do? Force them to reconcile like little kids?

"Alright..." the older man says, definitely unsure, "Well, anyway, I hope you're ready for our game a couple of days from now. " 

Zoro nods, receiving the pat on his back with a smile on his face. He feels reassured that his coach trusts him this much, but at the same time, it merely adds onto the pressure he feels. 

It's fine, Zoro tells himself, knowing that everything'll be okay. 

-

In the end, everything does end up "okay". Their game ends as a win for them, and on the three-hour ride back the team sings like they're drunk. 

The entire time, Zoro can practically feel every one of Nami’s movements, even if she's near the front of the bus. They still haven't talked. He hates that it's become like this but he doesn't know what else he can do, mostly when his feelings are so mixed up like this. He decides to ignore it though, focusing instead on the scenery he can scarcely see through the window on his right. 

It's dark outside and he assumes that it's nearly midnight, his thoughts quickly drifting to different subjects. He wonders if Sanji’s awake— _he probably is, that idiot_ —and he wonders what kind of things he's doing on a Wednesday like this. 

He definitely spends the rest of the ride (read: twenty minutes) thinking about Sanji, and when he climbs off the bus with his tired limbs, he only really has one destination. 

Zoro briefly says goodbye to his teammates and dumps his stuff off at his room, changing into comfortable clothes before making his way to a room he'd only been to a handful of times. 

He knocks on Sanji’s door and it takes a couple of seconds before it opens, revealing the idiot in his natural habitat. 

"Well well well," Sanji says in nearly a whisper, giving Zoro a—he thinks?—once-over. Or it's a trick of the light. Yeah, probably that. "What did I do to deserve a visit from you?"

"Give credit to my lonely nights," Zoro shrugs.

"Wouldn't be so lonely if you actually got a girlfriend," Sanji raises his eyebrows, and then he turns to gaze back into his room, most likely at the other bed. "My roommate's actually asleep right now though," he looks at Zoro again, "Did you need somethin' specific?"

"Uh—well, not really." 

"Nami advice?"

"Not that either."

"Come on now, don't tell me you actually came here because you were... 'lonely' and were hoping for some help from your fake girl." Sanji does some crude gestures with his hands and laughs at himself a second after.

Zoro nearly grimaces, "I definitely did not come here for that."

Thankfully, Sanji finally seems to get the gist of Zoro’s thoughts. The mosshead never outright says that he just feels like hanging out with Sanji, but Sanji accepts it.

"Well, I was watching the first episode of Mob Psycho 100. Wanna join?" 

Zoro shrugs and then he's finally invited inside, where the only light comes from Sanji’s laptop once the door's closed. Sanji hops onto his bed and sits against the wall, picking up his laptop. Zoro follows, situating himself next to Sanji. 

He gets handed the other half of Sanji’s earbuds, the guy's laptop being placed somewhere in between them. 

Zoro didn't expect to spend his night like this—watching some anime he's never heard about as they whisper commentary about its scenes, laughing as quietly as possible whenever anything funny would happen; glancing at each other when Sanji’s roommate, Reiner’s boyfriend, stirs every once in a while. It's weird in a good sort of way, and it brings the tension off of Zoro’s shoulders even if he's sitting in an uncomfortable position. 

That position gets even more physically uncomfortable once the laptop somehow ends up in Zoro’s lap and Sanji’s leaned up against him, head on his shoulder. He thinks it's because he needs more cushion on his lower back or maybe they shouldn't even be leaned against the wall or—oh for fuck's sake, Zoro’s complaining even when he's got Sanji basically snuggled up against him. 

Zoro, a few months ago, would've preferred playing basketball with Nami outside right now, but his current self... thinks that this is pretty great. It's not anything grand and they're barely interacting—they're also watching it all off a small laptop on some pirated site with a thousand ads, but even still.

He'd probably pick this over a match with Nami.

And—oh hell, he'll just say it—

Sanji, over Nami.

He definitely likes Sanji. As in, he has a crush on the guy. And it's gotten pretty bad.

At least he can admit it now.

-

Zoro spends one of their last practices of the season thinking about the fact that Bertholdt is Sanji’s roommate. He obviously doesn't have a problem with Bertholdt’s interests, right? That means he's not homophobic, _right_? 

He remembers Sanji saying that he accidentally kissed a dude—or was it slept with a dude? Zoro wasn't sure—and that he regretted it. Was that because he just didn't like it or was it the extreme option where he's actually against gay people? Man, Zoro should really sort himself out. 

He's pretty sure Sanji isn't homophobic but now that Zoro has to think of things like this, he's thinking of irrational things.

"Gather up everyone!" the coach yells from across the field, and Zoro snaps out of his thoughts to jog his way over. Once everyone's there, the dude begins talking. "So, semi-finals are tomorrow and they're going to be held in our home field. There's nothing much else that I can say other than sleep and eat well. Be prepared for tomorrow!" 

The group of them yell and then promptly break off to get ready for home. 

Zoro, for probably the hundredth time, finds himself in the change room with the usual talk about things they'd seen or heard, and Cavendish’s complaining.

"You know, Jean told me that he saw some people sitting on Bartolomeo’s car a few days ago," Connie speaks up randomly, and Zoro has to hold back the sudden laughter that's threatening to come out of his mouth.

"I’m not happy about that!” Bartolomeo speaks up.

"Who would choose to sit on his piece of trash?" Levi questions as he gets into his shirt. 

"Not sure who the other person is, but Jean says he swears one of them's Sanji," Connie replies. Zoro refrains from telling him he's right. 

"Ah, it makes sense when it's Sanji," Reiner says while nodding.

"That Sanji, he smirked at me this morning when I was trying to ask for this girl's number and I just—god, I hate him. The girl was only paying attention to Sanji when he passed by. What do the girls like about him?" Cavendish asks, while shoving stuff into his bag. 

"His face, maybe," Connie pipes up and Cavendish rolls his eyes. 

"Zoro, what do _you_ see in him? You're friends with the guy, right?" Eren asks, his first time speaking in that conversation. 

"He's—" Zoro begins.

"Zoro’s not friends with that asshole," the blond buts in, "Sanji seems to be forcing himself into Zoro’s life." 

"That's not it," Zoro states, putting his gym bag back into his lockers. He's a little annoyed by Cavendish trying to tell him what he feels. Now that he thinks about it, since the start the guy’s just been insulting Sanji. It makes Zoro irritated. "At the beginning, maybe—"

"See what I mean?" he interrupts once more, and Zoro feels his grip tightening on his locker door. "No one would be Sanji’s friend with that rotten personality of his. He's rich, so I bet Law’s only friends with him because he buys things for him, and the girls Sanji sleep with?" Zoro immediately winces when Cavendish brings it up, somehow knowing that he isn't going to like what'll come out next from the dude's mouth. "They are most definitely getting paid." 

At those words, Zoro immediately feels anger flaring inside of him. 

"Too bad they don't know Sanji sucks at everything, including—"

Zoro slams his locker door closed. "You should shut the fuck up.”

Everyone in the room stops and the attention is focused on Zoro now, most of them having not been paying attention earlier because of how often Cavendish ranted. 

Cavendish on the other hand blinks, hand frozen in the air where he's holding his t-shirt. "What?"

"Sanji is not an asshole. His personality is also fine—better than yours, and he doesn't have to pay girls to be able to win their hearts. He just knows not to act like an immature brat, unlike you," Zoro states, saying more than he intended to. 

"Are you being serious right now—?" 

"Yeah, I'm being serious," Zoro picks up his backpack, unable to take back any of the words he's said, "He's a good person."

Zoro decides to leave before people start asking him what the hell that sudden outburst was, opening the door to quickly depart. 

"Well, that answers my question I guess," Eren mumbles. 

-

" _Since when?_ " is a question that Zoro has stuck in his mind the entirety of the next day. 

When he thought back to what happened in the locker room, he starts to wonder since when people's opinions about Sanji bothered him so much.

He remembered months back, at the beginning when Sanji really was just an annoying asshole. He let Cavendish swear and curse at him as if he was talking about a book he disliked and not an actual person.

People actually change, Zoro guesses.

Along with this inner turmoil, he doesn't have a good feeling about this upcoming game—the game that was going to start in an hour or so, it being currently 6 PM. Cavendish hasn't talked or even looked at him, and that isn't the greatest thing when they have to work together on the field. He doesn't want Cavendish purposefully missing a catch because he was being pissy about what Zoro said. It's something Cavendish would actually do, too.

Zoro lets out a sigh, dropping his head. Right now he's sitting off to the side, putting off getting ready even when he already sees the bleachers getting filled with spectators. He hasn't even talked to Nami about that night, either. 

Being mentally okay is needed for good sport-playing, and though Zoro knows that, he can't bring himself to perk up.

"Oi." Zoro feels a smack on his side. 

He looks up and finds Sanji standing next to him, dressed in their university's colours. He's also got his lanyard around his neck, and that's when Zoro remembers that Sanji’s supposed to be a walking first-aid kit for this game. 

Zoro leans back in his seat and gives Sanji a smile. "Hey there Mr. Nurse." 

"You don't look so good." 

"Is that an insult?" 

"No, fuckhead," Sanji sits on the extra chair set up next to him. "'You worrying about something?"

"Well, yeah. Everything. It's the semi-finals, dude."

"Who gives a shit about that? You could have versed these dudes in the first round all the same." 

Zoro huffs out a laugh, "I guess, but I didn't and now I know that this team has beaten everyone before this game."

"So has your team. And plus, you've got Dalton. He's a big hunk of muscle, that guy." 

"Some of us are kind of twigs, though. It's a wonder we haven't broken ourselves."

Sanji smiles at that and it's at that point that an older lady calls Sanji name. 

"Anyway," Sanji stands, punching Zoro’s shoulder with his tiny fist, "Don't break yourself now. I don't want to carry your unconscious ass to the infirmary." 

"As if you could," Zoro mutters and Sanji scoffs, before walking away with a farewell.

Zoro feels a little better, he thinks, because he's got enough energy to finally go and get ready.

He changes and prepares himself, doesn't get the chance to try and speak with Cavendish, and then warms up with his team 20 minutes later. 

The game starts once the warm-up has been completed, and at this point the bleachers are filled with people supporting both teams. Zoro can always see the little blob of person wearing their school's colours and standing at a good 5 foot 11 or something, watching him play. 

The game's at its third quarter and his team's winning, but even so not by much. Zoro shouldn't be worried because he can tell that everyone's still fired up enough to make some more great plays and get more points before the last quarter rolls around, so he doesn't really know where he gets this sense of urgency. 

Sometimes you do dumb things, like get a 2% on your history test or get in a fight with your teammate the day before a game. 

Zoro just has to add what he does next onto that list. 

It's third down and the goal-line is right there, so Zoro decides to do a play that they don't usually do. 

They all know what he's doing but it's—to be honest, kind of stupid, and they can't turn back once Zoro gets the ball in his hand. Instead of throwing it as he might usually, he runs in to perform the quarterback sneak, his teammates advancing and keeping defence in check while he dives to the line. Though it does end with him getting the touchdown and scoring the goal, and though he does hear the crowd screaming in cheers at the victory of the play, it also ends with him getting fucked. 

In the midst of all the bodies piled atop one another, he doesn't really know how he ended up on the floor, searing pain travelling through the entire right side of his body. He later figures out that it's his arm, once everyone's started to gather themselves and pull each other up. Zoro doesn't even want to move. 

Reiner’s the first to figure out something's wrong, seconds after the play has happened. The whistle is blown a second time and people disperse to let Sanji come through, and Zoro kind of experiences all of this as if he's in a dream. Things are muted and he can't tell who's saying what, because fuck is he hurting right now. It's probably the pain that makes him black out, or he's just really tired, but he remembers thinking about what Sanji said before the game.

"Don't break yourself." 

Funny. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Errr um, yeah. Hi?  
> I don’t really have a great excuse for why this is like, a week and a half late, but if you want one I’ll say it’s because this is the last chapter that I had pre-written, and after this is a ton of sketchy and undeveloped ideas that I haven’t fully worked on yet. So I was working on them, sort of. Working on this and my bio, history and chem class online. I hate being in school but not at the same time, it just hurts.  
> Anyway I’ll keep this short, not sure anyone’s even still reading this story but thank you, if you are! I’m really grateful for you and it makes me really happy to know someone’s stuck through 18 whole chapters of this crackhead fic. I hope I don’t disappoint any more than I already have lolll ily all


	19. Make It More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro’s lowkey broken. Now what? Well, shit hits the fan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated splitting this chapter up into two parts but realized the second would be atrociously short, so yeah. Here’s a sort of longer one! Thank you for waiting :)

Zoro wakes up and—yup, not a dream. He's actually chilling in some medical room. Sanji's there, too. Contrarily to how he hoped earlier was a dream, he hopes this view _isn't_ a dream. It's a nice view, even if everything hurts.

"Oh—man, you're awake," Sanji says, "You most likely just received a grade 3 concussion and a broken arm." 

It takes Zoro a second to register what Sanji says, and another to notice the other people in the room. They're the other student nurses. 

"Great," Zoro manages to say. He tries to sit up but Sanji puts a forceful hand on his shoulder, keeping him down. He's lowkey grateful, because he probably couldn't have sat up the rest of the way.

"Yes."

"Is it just me or are you lacking compassion right now?" Zoro questions, already cracking out the sarcasm. 

Sanji smiles a little. "This stuff is all stuff that can heal, and you're already saying jokes so I'm not worried in the least." 

"Aw, your logical side can't be broken even for me?" 

"Of course not, fuckhead," Sanji states, and then adds, "Like, _literally_ fuckhead. Your brain got messed with from that hit. Took you at least twenty seconds to answer me." 

"Oh," Zoro says, and he wonders if that was another twenty seconds. He can't really tell right now. He does remember stuff though so it's not too serious, right? "Can I get some water?" Zoro eventually asks, because he's feeling extremely dehydrated. 

Sanji nods and then he's swiftly stepping out of the room, leaving Zoro awkwardly on the bed with some mumbling students. Someone soon leans over Zoro and he has to wince to focus on their face. It's a different Marco. The one who hangs out with Jean and Reiner.

"Sanji was  not logical two minutes ago. He was acting like you died, rambling about it the whole time." 

When Zoro registers what Marco said, it makes him hold back a smile—if he could even smile, considering how his arm felt like it was being repeatedly stabbed. Sanji was rambling because of him. This is the greatest news Zoro's heard in a while.

"How long has it been since this happened?" Zoro asks, and Marco shrugs.

"Like, ten minutes? That's why you still feel like your arm's getting ripped off, am I right? A doctor hasn't even been in this room to fully check on you yet, though they should be coming." 

It's at that moment that Sanji comes back in with what Zoro thinks is the doctor right on his tail, and then the official assessment of his injuries commences. 

-

It doesn’t take long for Chopper, the doctor in charge of this place (who is actually just a student like them but is apparently exceptional and took over this position from someone named Kureha—Chopper told the story while trying to fix Zoro’s arm), to tell him everything that’s wrong with him. And honestly, Zoro figures it could have been worse. Sure his arm is bent in a weird way and maybe some of the bone is sticking out, but it’s not like he’ll die... 

He doesn’t think it’s a big deal—at least, he convinces himself to think that it’s not, but after the medical pros are out and his teammates come flooding in, the rest of them also act like it is. They act as if it’s the end of the world for Zoro, and he tells them it’s  not, but laughs anyway when Connie over-exaggerates what he saw happen to Zoro from the side bench. Reiner tells them about how he noticed Zoro on the ground, and Levi mentions how he’d seen the moment someone stepped on his arm. Cavendish has been standing in the corner of the room for a while now, and Zoro doesn’t pay him much mind, knowing that things are still tense between the two of them. 

Ten or so minutes pass with his football team causing a ruckus, and then a passing Chopper is shooing them out and telling them to let Zoro rest so he can leave when he feels better. Most of his teammates file out of the room, leaving only Cavendish fidgeting a few meters away. Zoro just gives him a blank stare while he seems to try and gather his thoughts. 

“Look—“ Cavendish begins, and then he sighs, finally seeming to make up his mind as he walks up to the bed. “I was an asshole earlier. Sometimes I just get so jealous, and I know I shouldn’t hate on Sanji like that...”

“You can hate on whoever you want. I’d just rather not hear about it,” Zoro explains, and then Cavendish nods. 

“I also shouldn’t have tried to force words into your mouth.”

“Yeah,” Zoro laughs, “That’s probably what pissed me the most off.” 

Cavendish frowns at Zoro’s laughter but then he laughs himself, mentioning almost hesitantly afterwards, “You made me worried, with your broken arm and shit.” 

“Yeah yeah, sentimental stuff. I get it. I forgive you.” 

“Hey, fuck you! I’m leaving.” 

“Go ahead, nothing’s stopping you.” 

Cavendish flips him the middle finger as he leaves, and Zoro feels surprisingly a little better than be did before his injury, glancing down at the appendage that was no doubt going to cause him trouble for the next few months. That brings a thought into his mind that makes his eyebrows furrow, and he feels a weight drop in his stomach as a foreboding feeling starts creeping up on him. Before he can dwell on it longer, a noise snaps his attention to the door that’d been left open, drawing away the sentiment. 

Sanji’s there, and he’s closing the door behind him as he says, “‘The hell happened to Cavendish? Just passed him in the hallway, and he...  _ smiled _ at me.“

Zoro chokes out a laugh when he hears that, and Sanji’s just pulling a chair up to the end of Zoro’s bed. It reminds the mosshead of the time he sprained his ankle and Sanji took on the same position.

“He looked like he physically hurt, having to smile at me.” 

“Probably,” Zoro supplies, and Sanji raises an eyebrow, leaning forward and resting his weight on the arms he folded on the backrest.

“What, did you tell him to act nice to me? Stop bullying poor old Sanji?” 

“If anyone’s being bullied here, it’s me,” Zoro deadpans, and then Sanji laughs, a sound that makes the corners of Zoro’s mouth tilt.

“Well, whatever. None of my business what goes on in his mind. I’m more interested in what’s happening in that ecosystem of yours,” Sanji gestures to Zoro’s bandaged head, and he doesn’t know why he hesitates, but eventually he just shrugs in response.

“I’m fine.” 

“...Are you?” the blond presses further, and Zoro furrows his eyebrows, trying to assess what Sanji’s gaze meant. 

“Yeah.” 

Sanji just stares at him for a moment longer before he sighs, dropping his head and resting it on his arms. “Okay well, to be honest I thought you got yourself killed or something. Was expecting a news article about how Roronoa Zoro snapped his neck on the field and just died. Rest in pieces.”

The worry that is minutely revealed—that Zoro had already gotten hints about from Marco earlier—makes him feel warm, and then he’s considering being honest as well, glancing down at his arm. 

The pain that he can feel in his limb and the throbbing that he feels in his head seems to go deeper than the surface, as if it was actually affecting a part of his person instead of just his body. He’d thought about it in bits and pieces earlier, but with the distraction of doctors and teammates, he hadn’t really come to terms with it himself yet. Now that he’d been asked whether he was _okay_ , or what he thought about the whole situation, it felt as if all of his pain went to one part of his mind. 

“I’m actually...” Zoro begins, feeling somewhat comforted that Sanji wasn’t looking at him, head still laid on his arms. He’d rather people not see this side of him. “Really... really frustrated. The finals are a few days from now and I... won’t be able to play. I’m not sure what’ll happen to the other stuff I do as well.” He stares at his wrapped up arm and tries making a fist as usual, only wincing when he barely moves his fingers. “I hate being in states like this, and I hate that I wasn’t strong enough to avoid this.” 

He’s never been good at dealing with injuries that stop him from doing certain things; it makes him feel weak. Whenever something happens (admittedly often), he’s always itching to get over it as quickly as he can.

Sanji shifts when Zoro‘s silence continues, propping his chin on his arms now, gaze set back onto him. “Thought so.” He smiles a gentle smile—one that makes Zoro stop for a moment, and then he straightens back up, “But it’s fine, you know. Having moments like these. Sometimes there’s not much you  can do, no matter how much you want to. And sometimes it’s because of the results of your previous decisions.” 

“I think that’s shitty.” 

“Hm. Then why do you do it?” Sanji questions, genuinely curious. When Zoro just gives him a confused stare, he elaborates, “Why do risky stuff that could potentially mess with your future, when it’s something you hate so much?”

“Because,” Zoro tries clenching his hand again, “I don’t really think of it that way. I don’t really take into account any risk when there’s a much bigger prize to win at the end.” 

Sanji seems taken aback by the answer, and then he laughs, more so to himself than at Zoro. “Isn’t that the same as saying you’re willing to risk it all?” 

Zoro hums, trying to find a way to explain the thoughts he has in his mind. He finally speaks as he’s looking at a stain on the wall behind Sanji. “It’s more like I’m not willing to risk anything at all.” 

The blond seems to think of Zoro’s words more closely, hand falling to his lanyard and fiddling with the rectangle of plastic. When Zoro glances at him next, it seems as if he’d just been thrust into another world, gaze on something far off that Zoro can’t see. 

“Not willing to risk anything, huh...” Sanji trails off, and Zoro just stares, wondering what is now currently going through his mind.

He seems strangely unreachable.

“You know,” Sanji suddenly speaks up, and Zoro watches as his fingers clench his ID card, “I don’t want to be in the healthcare field.” 

It makes Zoro’s eyebrows raise, but he doesn’t cut Sanji off.

“I don’t want to be surrounded by the smell of disinfectant and the look of white sheets. I fucking hate these scrubs and I hate having to wear face masks. God, I hate the gloves more than anything else.” 

Zoro doesn’t really know where this is going, but he’s willing to just listen to Sanji vent. He looks as if he needs this, a kind of pain Zoro has no idea about resurfacing in his one visible eye.

Now that Zoro thinks about it, he knew barely anything about Sanji. It always felt as if the man was acting open and easy to read, when in reality he had loads and loads of secrets he told no one. Knowing that right now, Sanji‘s showing more of himself to Zoro, makes the mosshead feel a little special. It makes him focus on every one of Sanji’s words and every one of his actions. It makes him realize how much he wants to get to know Sanji, past his annoying bantering and stupid games. 

He has that opportunity now, and though he’s rejoicing at the chance he feels his heart getting tugged on when he realizes that—without a doubt, he’s going to learn about one of the skeletons in Sanji’s closet. He can see it, in the way the blond starts to retreat into himself, tense and fidgety. 

“I want to be a chef,” Sanji finally says, and then his stare drops somewhere; maybe the bedsheets, maybe the floor, Zoro still can’t tell. His voice then takes on a tone that Zoro hasn’t heard before, the solemn—nearly heartbroken—nuance of his voice unrecognizable coming from him. “But I hate thinking about the risks of it all. My last name’s actually Vinsmoke after all, and if I take a step on that path I’m guaranteed to lose everything I have right now.” 

Even though expected, Zoro still feels as if someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head, because he’d still never imagined to hear this from Sanji. See the expression on his face that Zoro could only describe as desolate. And so the cold gets overwritten by an anger that simmers in his veins, at the thought of something making Sanji like this. “...Why?” Zoro questions, when it seems that Sanji wouldn’t be explaining any further. He wants to know what makes up Sanji’s fears.

“Because my father’s one of the most important people in this city, and my siblings are all esteemed doctors, lawyers, whatever the hell the people nowadays consider a good job. And me...” One of his hands reaches up to clench his other arm, as if hugging and protecting himself from something that Zoro— _ still_, can’t see. “I’m the mishap. Even though I have a younger sibling I’m still somehow behind. I was never enough. I’m never enough and I will _never_ be enough. I—“ 

He stops himself there, jaw clenched to put an end to his words. Sanji doesn’t say anything for the next few seconds and so does Zoro. 

With the way Sanji held himself and acted, Zoro never would have thought that so many things were going through his mind, no doubt at every second in his life. How many insecurities had wrapped and engrained themselves into Sanji’s being over the years. How many scars Sanji had formed, whether it was scars on his soul or scars on his skin. It made Zoro enraged when he thought about what would have had to happen for Sanji to act like this, after merely  thinking about it. 

“You don’t have to be enough for them,” Zoro suddenly finds himself speaking, “You don’t have to live your life up to their standards. You don’t have to worry about losing it all. You—“ 

Zoro struggles with his words, because he truly isn’t someone who’s good at comforting, but he feels as if he can’t leave it like this. Like he can’t let Sanji think that he’s pinned to one path his whole life. 

“You can make it all back and  _more_ , Sanji.” 

Sanji, biting his lip; Sanji, with his hand grasping his sleeve and Sanji, who looks on the verge of breaking down. Zoro takes it all in. 

“If you want to be a chef, then fucking be a chef. If you want to forget it all then do it. If you want to run away, do that too. Just make sure that  _you_ make the decisions in the end.” Zoro wants to reach out and take Sanji in his arms, but the relaxing of the blond’s hand is enough. For now, the fact that Sanji lowers his arm is enough for him. “Don’t just sit there and take it.”

After a moment, he wonders if any of the words he’d just said actually meant something to the blond. If he could hear anything over everything going on in his mind. He hadn’t noticed the sound of the ventilator earlier, but now that the room is deadly silent, it seems to be the only thing he _can_ hear. Perhaps his words had been drowned out like he’d drowned out the white noise.

Sanji then lets out a sigh, and repeats it except exaggerated. 

After ruffling his hair he rubs his face with his hand, and Zoro will pretend that he didn’t see Sanji wipe at his eye. 

“Sorry. I made us talk about something depressing. I even had the intention of comforting you, and now it’s the other way around.” 

Zoro doesn’t even know if Sanji sees him shaking his head, but he does add, “You said it yourself. Sometimes we have those moments where we can’t do much. Let me add that talking might just be the only thing we can do.”

Sanji smiles and then he looks at Zoro finally, seeming tired. Tired of his emotions or the world, Zoro can’t tell yet. “Thanks.”

Zoro would reply “you’re welcome”, but he feels as if they’d just left that conversation open. There was no real resolution yet—Sanji most definitely hadn’t talked about the extent of his pains and Zoro definitely wasn’t done reassuring the man that he’s undoubtedly _enough_ , but he figures now is not the time. When Sanji wants to talk about it again, he will.

“If you’re really thankful, keep me company until Chopper lets me go.” 

The blond laughs, stating that Chopper is indeed a worrywart as he stands up. Sanji goes to the corner of the room and grabs a backpack that Zoro hadn’t even noticed before. As Zoro watches Sanji’s back, he admits that he really only told Sanji to stay back because he’s worried. For some reason he doesn’t want to let the man out of his sight, in case Sanji makes that expression when he’s in his room by himself—or _anytime_ he’s alone. He knows how dangerous a person’s mind can be, and being alone with one’s thoughts is probably the thing that he considers the most dangerous. 

And then Sanji’s rolling the chair to Zoro’s uninjured side, laptop in hand. 

“Since I don’t have anything left to do today anyway, I figured it was a great time for another Mob Psycho episode.” 

The laptop ends up on Zoro’s lap, and he wonders if Sanji can even see the screen from his position—it being him leaned to the side until his head touched Zoro’s arm, similarly to the first time they watched. Except now there‘s the fact that Zoro’s sitting on a bed higher than Sanji‘s currently sitting, and whatever he does, the blond will definitely still be uncomfortable.

The next time Zoro glances over at Sanji to make sure he isn’t uncomfortable, he meets a closed eye instead. A few more seconds of him staring as Sanji’s breathing evens out, the character Reigen’s shenanigans going on in the background, and Zoro feels a smile ghost his face. Sanji deserves the sleep.

-

He gets visits from different people the next day. Apparently he’s free to go after another day in the hospital—proving that Chopper indeed is a worrywart. Sanji _does_ supply to him that he was acting pretty out of it right after, but who doesn’t when they get run over by 200-pound boys? 

His visitors include his coach, who talks to him about the fact that he can’t and won’t be in the finals (he does not sulk about it to Sanji after, no, definitely _not_ ), Ace who gives him his missing notes and tells him he’ll make Zoro’s bed for the next month, his football teammates again, an extra loud Luffy, and Nami. 

It happened when he didn’t expect it to, starting with him checking the clock and noticing it was 6:30 PM. Sometime after that the door was pulled open once more. He anticipated Sanji; was about to tell him that he better not fall asleep during the episode this time if he didn’t want his cheek to be numb like yesterday, when he was met with the familiar redhead instead. 

“Nami,” Zoro greets, after he reigns in his nerves. 

“Hey Zoro, how ‘ya doing?” 

“Could be better, honestly.”

She nods and then pouts jokingly, sitting on the seat next to him that previously had Sanji, “Now we can’t have our ritual basketball games at night.” 

“I’ll still win even with one arm.” 

“Oh?” she questions, and Zoro sees the mischief in her eyes, strangely feeling as if he’d been missing it, “Is that a bet? How much.”

”$10 and a lunch,” he offers, and she taps her chin in thought. He likes how he can barely tell they haven’t talked in a while.

“$15.”

”You have a deal.” 

Nami laughs and Zoro does too, though he has a feeling that this was her strange way to make him feel better. She’d never make a bet that she’d lose, but perhaps she wanted to show him that he was still fine even with only one functioning arm. Not that he doubted himself that much anymore, after what Sanji said—

“ _You know, isn’t it kinda cool? One-armed kendo demon beating everyone up with a stick_.” 

“ _You’re fucking stupid_.”

” _Oh come on, you can still do so much with one arm, so what’s the point of feeling down about it? I know this guy, Zeff, and he’s only got one actual leg but he beat the shit out of me.”_

He had a point. A strange one, but a point nonetheless. It‘s Zoro’s left arm too, so it’s not like it’s the worst outcome.

”I brought you some apples,” Nami speaks up, and Zoro is quickly taken out of his thoughts to focus back on the container she takes out of her bag. “Sanji once taught me how to make them look like bunnies, so.” 

“Interesting. The world is ending. Nami, actually putting effort into something like food...” 

“Just accept my kind gesture,” she chides, and Zoro grins.

“Yesyes, thank you very much.” He grabs the container with his functioning arm, placing it on his lap. He kind of appreciates how Nami doesn’t baby him like his football teammates and Ace, even as she watches him open the lid with a little bit of a struggle. 

When he pops one into his mouth, Nami mumbles: “It’s a $5 fee, including apple price and service.” 

“You witch—“

”Just kidding! It’s a get well soon present,” she quickly reveals, and Zoro rolls his eyes but chuckles. 

They settle into a silence that Zoro can’t describe as comfortable or uncomfortable, because on one hand he knows they have to talk, and on the other hand, it’s Nami and they feel natural together. He wonders who’s going to bring it up. He hopes he doesn’t have to, only because he doesn’t know what he’ll say. 

It’s decided, a moment later, when Nami says: “I have something to say.” 

And again, Zoro just appreciates it. Appreciates Nami and her straightforward personality. 

“I’m sorry about what happened a few days ago.” She gets to fiddling with her fingers as Zoro just chews on the next apple piece. “Though it was not all bullshit because I was still conscious enough that I wasn’t totally out of it, what I did was wrong. I only did it because I‘m weak. I treated you like a replacement and I—I’m just sorry.” 

Then she adds: “And thank you, for doing what you did.”

Her silence shows that she’s evidently waiting for Zoro’s response, nervousness obvious even from miles away. He doesn’t want to keep her waiting but at the same time he just—yeah, he already said that he had no idea what to say. 

It’s because he cares about Nami, and he cares about their relationship. Hell, maybe he cares a little _too_ much, what with how much shit he went through with Sanji. 

“I understand,” he decides to say, “You have someone you like, and I understand that it can make people weak.” 

“You... do you have someone you like?” Nami questions, and Zoro knows there’s no other real meaning behind it than curiosity. 

He smiles then, and he momentarily focuses on the setting sun outside. It’s orange and vibrant and it’s so like Nami that he’s reminded of everything he feels for her.

”I understand precisely because I like someone,” he answers, and from his peripherals he sees Nami nodding. 

There’s also another thing that he’s come to understand from this conversation. He just needed to have Nami there, in front of him, to confirm it. Nami, with her familiar voice, faint citrus scent, money deals and all around aura. 

This is the girl he’s been pining over for two years now. Someone who treats him as simultaneously a dirtbag and a friend, someone who makes him happy, and someone who he admires. Someone who started the whole mess between him and Sanji, the latter of which he can no longer ignore.

At the thought of Sanji and of the past week, he suddenly has an idea that he can’t ignore anymore. It’d always been in the back of his mind since this whole ordeal called “feelings”, and now that they’re being honest together, what better time would it be to do it? It’s all sorts of crazy for him—maybe he should stay in the hospital for another day or two or _fuck it,_ another whole _week_. Nothing can really explain this sudden urge to tell Nami. To spill everything that he‘s feeling. But to him it seems as if it’s the right time. 

And after his moment with Sanji; revealing his insecurities and in turn learning about Sanji’s own fears, he has a feeling that what he’s about to do is the right thing. 

“I like _you_ ,” Zoro reveals, feeling like a _woosh_ of emotions just left him all in one go. And then the cat’s front legs are out of the bag, and he glances over at Nami to see her widened eyes—to take in her vibrant hair and perfect proportions. She’s nearly glowing in the sunset’s colours.

He forces the rest of the cat out of the bag.

“At least, I _did_.”

It’s just not the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha
> 
> *finger guns*
> 
> I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I had a blast writing it because—I mean, who doesn’t love writing about Sanji background angst. Idk how you guys feel about reading it tho... I also love Nami if that wasn’t obvious, so that last scene was a blast for me.. and yeah there Zoro goes, pouring out his heart. Poor bastard, he’s usually so emotionally constipated
> 
> Pls leave some comments if you liked it, love y’all <33


	20. It's Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro confesses to Nami, and he learns a shocking fact himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a hOT minute since I've uploaded a chapter for this story!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy it anyway :)))

“At least, I _did_.” Zoro corrects himself, and he’s expecting a shocked “ _what the hell_ ” from Nami, but he himself is shocked when all Nami does is sit in silence, a contemplative look on her face.

He wonders for a moment if it was bad timing, if maybe he should’ve waited for a time where he wasn’t in the hospital. It’s like he’s acting as if he’s gonna die the next day and might as well reveal all of his secrets.

“Well, darn,” Nami eventually says, and she reaches over to grab one of the apples (that were supposed to be _his_ ), posture relaxing as she falls back in the seat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zoro questions carefully, and he becomes confused when a smile slowly settles on Nami’s face.

She bites half of the bunny apple and says, “I had some suspicions about your feelings.”

Zoro’s jaw nearly dropped. “ _All this time_ —?”

“I was like 70% sure,” Nami quickly explains, “After swindling money from so many people you start to learn how to read them.”

Zoro has to take a second to absorb the fact that his crush, all this time, knew that he liked her. Well. “70% sure”, whatever the hell that meant.

“And you didn’t say anything.”

Nami pauses, and then she looks at Zoro with what he recognizes as a careful expression. “I still consider you a really good friend. I didn’t want to ruin that by saying something conceited like—‘oh, you have a crush on me don’t you?’. I still really like you as a person.” Another smile makes its way to her face, and this time it’s teasing. “Plus, it was kind of cute.”

Zoro shuts his eyes, feeling humiliation and embarrassment appear as heat in his ears. “God, damn, you’re a witch.”

“Come on! The guy who doesn’t answer any girl’s Snapchats and would sooner be seen at a _morgue_ than on a _date_ plays basketball with me during weird hours at night. Plus, you—“

“Yeah, yeah okay—“

“—Always somehow pull through with my requests—“

“Please stop.”

“People also say you’re kind of intimidating, but with me you’re like a baby tiger.”

Zoro wants to groan into his pillow and forget the past three days happened. But at the same time, he didn’t want to forget about the development of his relationship with Sanji, and just as he thinks about him Nami seems to notice something.

“Ah! Since you don’t like me anymore, that means something happened,” she cleverly points out, and then leans forward, mischief evident in her expression. “Did someone else pique your fancy?”

At that Zoro narrows his eyes, wary of everything he’ll tell Nami. It might only make his embarrassment grow.

To be honest, Zoro believes that he should feel more humiliated at the fact that Nami knew about his crush and didn’t say anything about it. In reality, he feels more glad than anything else. This means he didn’t have to explain his feelings, pinpoint exactly when they started, or whatever else girls got curious about when they get confessed to. It’s like a weight’s been lifted off his shoulders.

With that feeling he decides to tell Nami some truth. “Yeah. There is someone else.”

“Bullseye huh...” Nami trails off, and she seems to be thinking about something. When she seemingly makes up her mind she’s now glancing out the window where the sun is on the brink of disappearance. “I won’t ask for who it is, and since you confessed earlier I feel like I should too.”

“You don’t have to,” Zoro quickly reassures, but Nami shakes her head.

“I want to. It’s kinda hard keeping it all to myself you know?”

All Zoro can do is nod, because he understands that completely. Hell, he remembers complaining to himself that he couldn't talk to anyone about Nami (before Sanji came in of course). He’s now watching Nami nervously play with her fingers, hand soon coming up to tuck her hair behind an ear. “Well. How do I say this...”

“Take your time,” Zoro says, picking up an apple and casting his gaze to somewhere else in the room. He didn’t want to pressure Nami into anything.

“I like... girls,” she finally reveals, and then she’s back to wringing her hands. “I mean, I never expected you to be a homophobe or anything, but you never know what people keep hidden you know? And so all this time even though you did like me I couldn’t return the feelings either way because I just don’t see boys that way and maybe it’s weird but—“

“I now couldn’t care less which gender you like.”

Nami stares at him for a moment, as if trying to discern whether he’s lying or not. When she finds what she’s looking for visibly relaxes, though not entirely. She seems as if she has more to say.

“The person I like is Vivi Nefertari.”

 _Vivi_.

That name is pretty familiar to Zoro, in more ways than one—like maybe he’d had a secretive talk about her before and—Zoro suddenly remembers.

" _If it's not Nami, then who?"_

 _"It's... her best friend, Vivi Nefertari._ ”

Oh. The girl Sanji had an on and off relationship with for a while, apparently. And now they‘re officially separated. That makes things kind of weird. If Zoro remembers correctly, Nami said something about how her and Vivi couldn’t be together. She could have either been talking about the fact that they’re two girls, or the fact that Sanji and Vivi had at that time an existing relationship.

Zoro furrows his eyebrows, because he swore that Nami made it seem as if Vivi liked her back—is Nami the reason for Sanji and Vivi’s permanent breakup?

“And my problems go further than it just being a gay thing,” Nami continues, and Zoro escapes his mind for a bit to hear the rest of the story. As of now he’s just all sorts of confused. “You see... um, Vivi told me it’s not exactly a secret but I still think it’s intrusive so don’t tell anyone else, Zoro—but she’s kind of engaged already.”

“ _Engaged_ —“ Zoro nearly chokes, and the tone of his voice reflects exactly how he feels. It’s as if things are piling up one by one to make this situation more confusing. He’s also never been the greatest at connecting two and two (it’s shown clearly when he thought that Sanji and Nami were a _thing_ ) so now that he has to connect two and four?

“She’s apart of some really rich family; some people consider her a princess, you know,” Nami speaks, and Zoro nearly rolls his eyes at her boasting expression, “And it’s been around three years, but she was put into an arranged marriage with the son of the Vinsmokes. They’re waiting for one of them to finish uni before finalizing it.”

Another name that’s incredibly familiar, however Zoro knows exactly where it’s from the moment he hears it. He’s been thinking about it for the past two days after all; rolling it around in his head, thinking about how the last name he’d been making fun of this whole time was just a coverup for the name _Vinsmoke_.

Things are starting to make sense.

Vivi and Sanji are in an arranged marriage. Nami likes Vivi and she likes her back. Sanji said that they had ended, but on what terms? Was the marriage called off or did they personally decide they’d never have feelings for each other?

Judging by Sanji’s expression the night that Zoro had found him; standing outside the building with that bleak look, it wasn’t ended on Sanji’s side.

Zoro lets out an exasperated sigh, hand ruffling his own hair. “You got yourself into a complicated situation.”

“Yeah, no doubt.”

Zoro glances at Nami and hears the chime of his phone in the background, ignoring it for a moment as he notes that Nami definitely thinks Zoro doesn’t know as much as he does.

And that’s fine. He wants some time to mull over what he just heard.

The mosshead picks up his phone after Nami gestures to it, seeing the familiar name.

**asshole**

I’m coming to your room with dinner cooked by yours truly ;)

**Zoro**

Do I want to accept this from someone who ate a cake pop off the ground?

**asshole**

honestly fuck you. You won’t ever say that again after tasting my cooking :<

Zoro laughs to himself and when he sets his phone down he sees Nami looking at him with a soft sort of look in her eyes.

“Someone’s coming to visit, am I right?”

Zoro nods.

“Well...” Nami starts, and then she begins closing up the bag she’d taken the container of apples from. “I just want to say thanks for listening to me rant all the time. I wasn’t lying when I said I like you as a person.”

The words make Zoro smile, and he feels infinitely glad again that he’d confessed. “Even though you’re kind of a bitch I obviously like you as a person too.”

Nami rolls her eyes and then she stands, slinging the bag over her shoulder. “Take care. We’re gonna win the championships, by the way. Even without you.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

—

Curry and rice.

Honestly, Zoro doesn’t remember ever smelling a curry so discreetly fragrant.

“Could’ve chosen something that _won’t_ stain the sheets for the rest of time,” Zoro speaks, and Sanji simply flips open the plastic spoon.

“It won’t be staining the sheets because I’ll be feeding you.”

“Yeah sure—wait, what?” Zoro blinks, and then the words register further in his mind and Sanji’s scooping rice and curry onto the spoon in perfect proportions, a grin on his face that he’s trying to mask as a simple smile (but Zoro’s smarter than that; can tell that the bastard’s rejoicing from his embarrassment inside). “No you’re not.”

“What are you gonna do, fight me? I’ll beat your ass,” Sanji says with a snicker, and then he raises the spoon up to Zoro’s face. Unlike with everyone else minus Nami, Sanji’s actions aren’t because he pities Zoro. It’s not like his football team members who offer to open his bottle of water or Ace who offers to do the chores in their dorm room because they feel bad for him—Sanji’s just taking advantage of the situation to tease him. “Say _ahh_.”

It takes him a moment, but with just one glance at Sanji he’s begrudgingly opening his mouth, ignoring how the mere action makes him feel as if his ears are burning.

And the curry is good. Like, _really_ good. To the point that he wonders what kind of curry he’s been eating before all of this. He licks the corner of his lips and then compliments Sanji on it, watching as the man’s features brighten and he puffs out his chest, saying something like, “ _Well yeah, I made it so_...”

It makes Zoro feel sort of warm inside, eating Sanji’s cooking. Knowing that it’s something he’s so passionate about, and knowing that he’s willing to share it with him now... There’s a worrying amount of happiness in Zoro’s chest.

They spend the next ten to twenty minutes like that, with Sanji feeding Zoro (who eventually gets over the embarrassment, even egging Sanji on and saying that he won’t enjoy it fully unless he hears some airplane noises), and Zoro trying to ignore the hints of an indirect kiss when Sanji sometimes spoons a mouthful into his own mouth.

He enjoys the time he spends with Sanji, and when the man starts to excitedly talk about a cabbage deal at the store, Zoro feels a sentiment of reassurance settle in his stomach. He’s undoubtedly smitten by Sanji, and he definitely can’t call it love yet but he can see it _becoming_ love.

There’s a thorny path ahead of him—with Sanji and Vivi’s arranged marriage, the fact that Sanji still probably loves Vivi, and the idea that Sanji doesn’t even like men.

But, hell. He went through so much when his feelings for Nami became unbearable: he met some nutcase by the name of Sanji and made him act as his girlfriend for a good while, he rejected her offer for a one night stand, and he even somehow broke his arm in the process. Finding his way out of the problems he will face is nothing much.

Especially when the endgame might be Sanji.

Now that sounds nice.

—

He gets to leave Chopper’s overprotective care the next day, as promised. It feels good to be somewhere other than a hospital room, and he feels as if he hasn’t walked in years even if he’d been in the hospital no more than three days (which, he already thinks is him overstaying, because he really only received a concussion and a broken arm).

Ace gives him notes from one day’s worth of classes, and he’s glad he only missed Monday because Ace’s handwriting is god-awful. If Luffy’s writing is chicken scratch, Ace’s is that, but imagine a chicken with the longest leg and the worst accuracy.

Things basically return to normal (if you don’t count him spending hours deciphering what word Ace wrote in a certain spot), and the only difference in his everyday life is minor inconvenience. It sucks that he only has one hand to hold things now, and he can’t work out as efficiently anymore. One big event is the fact that his team wins the championships, and he celebrates it with them at another one of their night-time outdoor drinking, but he feels as if he has to force the smile on his face for half the event.

And then there’s Sanji. He isn’t sure when he should admit that he confessed to Nami, or when he should tell him that he’s over her. There are a lot of things that Zoro knows he should do, but the timing of them all is incredibly difficult to decide. He’s just glad that, even if Sanji notices Zoro’s acting a little off, he stays quiet about it, almost as if he knows Zoro just needs time to figure out what he should do next. 

He's just a little afraid that if he tells Sanji the whole issue with Nami and his crush is resolved, Sanji might stop seeking him out. It's one of his favourite things to find Sanji leaned against their dorm's walls at night, or to open his door to some wine and coffee mugs. Thinking of a time where Sanji stopped that was difficult.

However, Zoro knows almost as a fact, that Sanji wouldn't do that. He'd said it before too: that even though he had approached Zoro for a specific reason, he continued approaching Zoro because he enjoyed being with him. 

Now that the football player thought about it, he'd never figured out what that original reason was. He could make some guesses at this moment—but he still doesn't trust himself to make things like theories when his last one ended up disastrous (Nami and Sanji dating). 

Putting that thought aside, Zoro realizes that the results of all the shenanigans he'd been through recently are surprisingly positive. He feels significantly closer to Nami and he's sure Cavendish won't be badmouthing Sanji anymore. He also feels as if the past events with Sanji have made him see the man in a whole new light, and the enigma that'd once been an idiot who dressed bad was slowly becoming something Zoro thinks he can come to understand. 

It's probably because of that theory that people had nowadays—what was it, the rule that everyone got a set amount of misfortune and happiness? It must've been the end of Zoro's misfortunes and the start of his luck. 

But in the end, it's impossible to measure the amount of misfortune he'll receive in this lifetime. For all he knows, he's got a whole truckload left that he'll have to get over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...no thoughts head empty
> 
> This was kind of like a recap chapter but not really because you learn some schtuff but at the same time yes...
> 
> YEAH so I really struggled to publish another chapter for this, but then I remembered that this whole story was supposed to be me having fun with a popular but kinda stone-hearted main character and a crackhead love interest. Then I was like. What am I even so afraid of???   
> It's been a longgg time but whoever's still there, thanks for being there, and thanks for being awesome. I'm glad you're still reading this train wreck :) I swear the next update won't be—what, three months later??   
> The last few lines were inspired by the k-drama It's Okay to Not Be Okay (watch it for goodness sake it's beautiful and everything good in the world). I hope you look forward to the next chapter and see u latersss!!


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